Tales of the new Keywielder
by Nanoman94
Summary: The story of myself, if the keyblade chose me. but what if it wasn't a "blade" this time? rated T for mild language and varying degrees of violence. Also some romance thrown into the mix.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
Just an (extra)-ordinary day

I didn't have that bad a life. Living on the outskirts of Walden in a modest bi-level home, with loving parents and a little bro, I dreamt of something more. There just has to be more than this world; there just has to be other life in our universe. And I'm going to be the one from my planet to find it. But for now, I'll just have to deal with being a six-foot tall, brown haired and eyed sixteen-year old, well on his way to being an author.

So, like any other weekday, I woke up promptly at four-thirty. I hung out on my computer for an hour, the light and games (particularly Minecraft) helped to wake me up. I went to my kitchen, poured some Cheerios into a bowl, and took a shower after I finished it. I headed out to my bus stop at the end of the street, dressed in my usual fashion for May; a solid colored tee, this time forest green, light khaki cargo shorts, and a pair of gray and black sneakers, worn from age. I was the only one there, like usual. I waited about ten minutes, got on the late bus, and attended school like any other kid.

Alright, this is where my life will change forever.

I got past science, although I don't know how, only to have to go to the mile run in gym. Again. I was absent for it the first time, and so was about half of the other teens (Kid Icarus: Uprising came out, and many people had a 3ds, you know where this is going.). I was halfway through it when things took a turn for the strange. A small creature, about two feet tall, materialized from nowhere in front of me. It had a large, circular head, two glowing yellow eyes, as well as a pair of antennae and a jagged smile. It was pitch black in color.

"Hey little guy. What are you, and where should you be?" I said as I held out a hand to it. It bit down on my flesh, hard. Blood was drawn, and most of the kids stopped running to see what happened. The creature made a small growl, and about fifty more of them appeared everywhere on the track. I ran towards a safe area, and turned to look back. It was chaos; people were screaming and running away, and several of them slumped to the ground, shortly after pink gems in the shape of hearts rose into the air out of them.

Okay, just what was going on? Several of them, about six, surrounded me. I punched and kicked out, but nothing seemed to hit them. It was early in the morning, the sun not being fully up, and it was hard to see their shadowy forms in all of the natural shadows on the ground. I could have sworn some of them _were _shadows, two-dimensional on the ground. I jumped the fence, and rummaged through my backpack, sine we left them outside the track instead of in the locker room today. I threw my notebooks and binders aside, until I found what I was looking for. It was a small utility flashlight, the kind that runs on watch batteries. I turned around, and shined the light in the face of one of the creatures. If they liked shadow, then I'll give them some light.

The thing staggered, but no signs of damage were on it. Quite suddenly, a larger light appeared on the field. The shadows, as I called them now, closest to the light evaporated into black smoke. Others were weakened, and sunk into the ground. The light shrank, and floated towards me. I couldn't move. It was the size of my fist, and it sank into my chest. A warm, fuzzy feeling enveloped me, consumed me. When I opened my eyes, in my left hand was a bow, no string was visible. It had yellow curves, and a brown handle. On my right arm was a silver vambrace, a golden key imprinted on it. Without thinking, I pulled back on the bow where the string should be. An arrow appeared, shaped like the key on the wrist guard. I let it loose, and it went straight through two of the creatures. They disappeared in puffs of smoke.

Soon, I had eliminated all of them, and the bow and wrist guard vanished in a flash of light. School was cancelled for the rest of the day due to damages, and so I hopped on the bus home.

That night, I lay awake in my bed, thinking about what happened. That bow… it had come to me and me alone. I guess I'll just have to think about it in the morning. I fell asleep, only to wake up several seconds later. I wasn't in my room. In fact, I wasn't anywhere I had seen before. Just a circular platform in the middle of a void.

(A/N: I've decided to take a break from my other story for a while, ever since this idea came to me. Please R&R, and take note of this fact: this story will never be finished. Ever. It's a continuing story, something to fall on when I have writer's block. The first part of this story takes place halfway through KH2, but then it can go anywhere, even to other videogame worlds, like Starfox, Halo, or even Legend of Zelda. Any world visited is not owned by me, except maybe one or two. Enjoy what you can of this, since updates to this story occur when others are slowing down.)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Dive to Heart

I stood up. Where was I? Why am I here? All I could see was the platform below me, and endless space around. I pinched myself, and felt it. Yeah, I wasn't dreaming.

_Welcome, chosen one… _a voice said. I didn't know where it came from, but I couldn't speak for some reason. _Your new destiny awaits, but before it occurs, you must shape it. _Three pillars erupted around me. On one, there was a sword. The second held a shield. The third was a magical staff. _Which power do you embellish? Choose, young one. _Instantly, I choose the sword. I hold and examine it, and notice the triple circle insignia upon it.

_The Sword of the Warrior. The power to survive and fight. The power to win. _The voice said. _Do you choose this power? _I simply nod my head, still unable to speak. _You have chosen the Strength of the Warrior. Now, choose the power you will give up in return. _I walk over to the shield, and hold it in my hands as the voice talks to me again. _The Shield of the Guardian. The power to protect loved ones. The power to protect oneself. Do you choose to give up this power? _I nod my head once more.

_You have chosen the path of the warrior, and have given up the path of the guardian. Are you sure? _I nod my head, hopefully for the last time. _Your fate is sealed. Enter the door, and begin your challenge._ I was about to wonder where the door was when it materialized next to me. I grabbed the sword from its pedestal, and entered the next room, or pillar, I should say. It seemed barren. I walked a few steps forward, and an almost invisible arm hits my midsection. Dazed, I look up, only to see the mother of all shadows.

It had to be thirty feet tall, with a tangled mess of hair (was it hair?) concealing its face, but not its two yellow eyes. The oddly muscular body had a large hole in it, shaped like a heart. I swear I've seen this before, but where? I had no time to think, though, when a silvery arm latches itself around my waist. I am flipped around, and become face-to-giant-face with another monster. This one is silver in color, and had a bluish… scarf? The design on its face, or where its face should be, was oddly familiar to me. That's when the other one punched me. Hard. I'm sent flying towards the open space, but an invisible barrier stops me.

Getting up, I look towards the creatures. I guess I have to defeat them. The black one lunges its fist at me, while tall, thin, and silver sweeps the ground. I waste no time as I jump off of silver's legs and onto black's arm. I run up his arm, trailing the sword into its flesh. Black liquid oozes out as I make it to its face. A quick three hits with the sword, and it vaporizes into a million small clouds. He wasn't that hard. I land on the ground, oddly not feeling any injury from the three-story fall, only to be greeted by a flash of light. Silver is gone, and an orb of magical aura has formed around me. I drop the sword and start to fumble around, trying to get it off. Next thing I know, the orb splits in four, one each to my wrists and ankles. I'm hoisted fifty feet into the air, at least.

I waited for what seemed like forever. Then, silver appears, and swings his arm back to strike. Using every ounce of strength I had, I did a mid-air flip to knock his hand into his giant face. This seemed to piss him off. He grabbed me on both sides, and tossed me into the air as the dark orbs disappeared. I flipped again, and drop-kicked the thing on its head. I thought it hurt me a lot more then I hurt it, until I saw it vaporize into clouds of silvery air. Then the voice starts up again.

_You have passed your trial. The Keyblade, in its unorthodox form, is yours to command. _The bow from yesterday appears in my hand. _Beware, Key-wielder, the trial may be over, but the guardians are still alive. Take care, for only when they are truly killed can you return to your life. _As the voice ends, the platform shakes, topples, and I fall through empty space. Below me, I see both of the giant monsters holding a sphere of energy, waiting for me to fall in it. Without thinking, I grab the handle of my bow with both hands, and it splits in two. I flung the two newly-formed… giant keys at the monsters. The orb of energy explodes, vaporizing both of them as I fall into empty space. The keys teleport to my hands in a flash of light, and I close my eyes.

I stopped falling. I open my eyes, only to find myself sweating in my bed, at home. It must have all been a crazy dream, one of those lucid ones where you can feel pain. I believe this only for three seconds, though. I lifted up my covers to get out, and the strange "Keybow" is in my bed. As it vanishes in a flash of light, I felt something inside myself. As I thought about the bow, it appeared again, in my hand.

Yeah, this I going to lead to something bad, I just know it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
Understanding

(A/N: this chapter contains mild racism, or whatever it's called against a religion, specifically Judaism. This is not normally in my writing, and do not expect much more from me. The friend who this is portraying likes to say things in a joking manner like this, so please do not take offense. If you are offended by such things, then skip the text in-between the **bold **text. You have been warned. Any flamers on this topic will be ignored. Thank you.)

School was still cancelled due to damage from the shadow attack, so the day was free for students, at least for the high school-middle school building. My brother still had to go to his 2nd grade classes. So, I hopped on my bike, and rode into the town of Walden. It's a nice village, with its own array of unique shops, hangouts, and gangs. It's also notorious for the amount of kids here who are failing art. With a "7" average. Yeah, I don't get it either.

I met up with a couple of my friends. There was Mike, a guy who was slightly shorter than myself, probably five-nine, with (what looks like) a bowl-cut brown hairdo, although it looks too professional to be that. Chris was slightly taller than me, maybe an inch or two, and always having a smile on his face. Today he managed to not have his girlfriend around, which made explaining everything a lot easier. We walked to the park by an old ice cream stand, and sat in one of its long-abandoned benches.

**(Offending text starts here)**

"Guys, something weird happened on the track the other day, when you guys were playing with balls and-"I started, but was interrupted by Mike.

"Ping-Pong. We were playing Ping-Pong, not with balls."

"Close enough. Anyway, the damages were caused by these weird shadow things. I swear I've seen them before, but I don't know where." I pull a sheet of paper from my pocket, and unfold the drawing of the shadow I made earlier.

"Dude, it's obviously the work of the Jews." Chris said.

"No, it's not. Zack, that's a good drawing of a shadow." Mike said.

"You call them that too?" I asked.

"No, that's what they ARE called, we played this game, like, fifty times on the bus already," he pulls out his red Nintendo DSLite, and starts the game on it. It's _Kingdom Hearts, 358/2 Days_. He starts up one of the missions, and I see the shadow creature rendered on the screen. "You must have hit your head or something. It's a game character, no more, no less." He closes the system and puts it back into his pocket.

"I swear! They must have…escaped the game or something, that's all!" I said in an annoyed tone. Then Chris started spouting off nonsense again.

"Guys, what if-hear me out-but what if the Jews-"

**(Offending text ends here. That wasn't that bad, was it?)**

"This has nothing to do with them, Chris. If anything, it's the Japanese. They have all the crazy tech." I say.

Mike butts in, saying, "It's. A. Video. Game. Stop acting like its real!"

Before I could talk more, the ground shakes violently. And all three of us hear the same voice. _The light of the Key must be extinguished! _ It said. Shadows appeared, and now that my memory of the game is coming back to me, I also see Soldiers and even a couple of Blue Rhapsodies.

"Okay, now I believe you." I hear Mike say. I also hear a scraping sound, like metal. I look to my side, and Chris is climbing a tree, while Mike is holding a wicked-looking machete. It had jagged points on its topside, while the bottom was smooth and sharp.

"Where the hell did you get that?"

"Birthday present, two years ago. Crazy uncle."

I willed the bow into being, and split it into the twin swords like I did in the dream. Mike stares at me wide-eyed for a second, but is soon occupied with the wave of Heartless. He slashes with his machete, the metal easily slicing the frail bodies of the common enemies. My dual keys somehow slice through the soldiers and the flying magic-casters. One of the Rhapsodies shoots a bolt of ice into the air, only to have a frozen Chris fall on it, smashing the creature into smithereens. The ice broke, and Chris gathered his wits and started hurling small pebbles at the remainder of the enemies. I guess he had to help somehow.

The enemies were defeated, and my bow disappeared in a flash of light. "I can't believe its real! KH has to be one of my favorite games!" Mike says.

"Yeah, but you know the Heartless consume world, right?" He nods. "I think we're next."

(A/N: Dun Dun Duuuuuuun! The plot thickens! Also, the next chapter will have a KH location in it, I swear. Also, this story is written as if KH2 was never made. The story starts right around Sora's first visit to the Tron world, though. You'll see what I have planned. Mwahahahaha! *Cough, hack* Ugh, I have to stop doing that…)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
New Places

It was several weeks after the first shadow attack. My life was flipped upside-down. Not only were the Heartless around, but they were of stronger varieties as well. I'm talking the Orcus and Dustflier kind of bad. The United States Armed Forces were trying their best to repel them, but only experimental energy rifles could harm them.

Me? I was knee-deep in the horde, with only Mike at my back. Apparently, his machete could harm the Heartless as well as my bow could, but we were being overrun. We fled our town of Walden, all the way to New York City. Which was deserted. Literally nobody was there, since everyone was scared of the creatures that ripped your heart out for food. We spent our time walking around the deserted shops, scrounging for food and keeping our hideaway at Broadway Theater brightly lit. It was hard, but there wasn't as many Heartless here than in other areas.

We had split up to cover ground that day. I hacked my way through the hundreds of shadows that constantly covered the ground; as I said, this was a place with fewer of them when compared to other places. I noticed I was at Times Square, a once central part of NYC, now barren and desolate. Feeling nostalgic, I walked inside the Toys 'R' Us there, gladly finding out the ice cream machine inside still worked. I stuffed the bottle of chocolate syrup in my bag; it was considered a delicacy now. That, along with freeze-dried fruits, a bag of BBQ potato chips, beef jerky, and three packages of double-A batteries to power the flashlight at my waist, was all I had on me. For good measure, I also took three books from the Barnes & Noble a couple blocks down the street; my favorites, to remind me of the life I once dreamed of having. _The Hunger Games, Eragon, _and _The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales _were the three books that inspired my now-ancient dream of writing. But who cares about fantasy stories during the end of the world? Apparently I do.

I Rendezvous with Mike at our hideaway, the elevated levels of Broadway the only place the Heartless couldn't get to. Until today. It was Three in the afternoon, according to my watch. It was three when the giant black fist crashed through the wall and knocked Mike out of the nosebleed seats and fell, crashing, onto the stage below. The fist belonged to a Darkside, similar to the being I fought in that crazy test so long ago. They were nothing to me now; I simply kept shooting its face, expecting it to vaporize like the others that I fought. It did not.

I too fell onto the stage, just in time to help Mike up from unconsciousness. The world started to break away. Literally. Soon, all that was left was the stage we stood on, floating in a dark void. The Darkside floated just beyond the platform. It spoke, and I recognized the voice with fear. _Key-wielder. Your world is no more. It is useless to fight; give in to the dark. _I shouted back to the voice from my Dream, "No way! I will fight to the end!"

_So be it. _The Darkside flung its arm out at me, and I couldn't dodge it in time. I was sent flying off of the world, Mike barely grabbing my bag to make sure we ended up in the same place. However, he soon lost his grip, and we were sent flying off into space. I soon lost all sense of myself to the void.

(Time transition: three days later…)

I awoke on the ground in the middle of a small alley. It was sunset, wherever I was. The buildings around me seemed to be made of a tan-ish stone. On the wall across from me was a poster advertising a "Struggle" tournament. I quickly got up, and explored where I was. I roamed the vast network of alleys, until I heard voices.

"I'm telling you, Hayner, that Kairi girl was looking for Sora!" a female voice said.

"Olette, calm down. Pence, you don't believe her, do you?" a male voice, presumably 'Hayner,' said.

"What was that? I was too bust eating this melon stick…"

The source of the voices was a red curtain in the middle of a very small alley. I pushed it aside, hoping to meet these people, and ask them where I was. The three teens all immediately turned to face me, with dumbstruck looks in their eyes. Yeah, this wasn't going to end well…

(A/N: and then there were four. Mwahahahahah! *Cough* I got to stop doing that… please R&R, and be sure to check out my other stories! ("Origins" comes before "Knight of the Gods," for those who don't like to read descriptions.))


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
The Second Key

The three teens looked at me oddly, as if they had seen me before but forgot who I was. Then they guy on my left, wearing camouflage shorts and tank top, and messy blond hair, stood up with an angry scowl and said,

"Get out! This is our hangout, not for some creep in Seifer's gang!" he pointed a finger at the red curtain I entered through, "Get out before I make you!"

I responded rather truthfully, "I'm sorry. I'm new to town, and I was just wandering around. I'll just-" I didn't see the fist that rushed towards me, and I was unceremoniously knocked out of the hideout. My rage got the better of me when I stormed back in. "What was that for? I was just about to leave when-" I was hit by a foam club. Hey, don't laugh. That thing hurt.

"Enough!" I shouted. The Keybow appeared in my hand, and the girl (whom I believed to be Olette) stood up in surprise.

"You have a Keyblade?" she asked. "Do you know Sora?"

Hayner relaxed his grip on the club. "No, who is he?" I asked.

"He's actually here right now. Probably at the train station at the top of town." Pence, the fat-ish blob on the moldy couch said. I ran out, only to see a figure dressed in black clothing, with oddly shaped animals behind him; a dog (I think) and a duck. The most noticeable thing, however, was the giant key in the boy's hand. I followed them to a large open part of town, which looked like some sort of arena.

"Hey! Wait up!" I shouted at them. The boy skidded to a halt, and turned to face me. "You're Sora, right?"

"Yeah, this is Donald, and Goofy. Who told you about us?"

"A guy named Pence. Is that a Keyblade?"

"Yeah, it's the perfect weapon to deal with Heartless and-" he was cut off when several silvery creatures appeared. Some looked like small humans, with pointed limbs. Others were hulking giants, with large hammers. "Nobodies!"

"Get away, whoever you are! These guys are out for us!" the duck, Donald, squawked at me. I summoned my bow, and he reeled back in shock. "You have a Keyblade too?"

"No, I have two Keyblades." I said as I split the bow in half. One quick fight later, and I turned to Sora.

"So, you can also use the Keyblade. That means you're gonna help us, right?" the brown-haired teen said.

"What gave you that idea? I was just going to ask for a lift back to my home, planet Earth." I said. I had no intention of helping.

"Gwarsh, how do you know this ain't your world?" the dog-thing, Goofy, asked me.

"My world does not have an eternal sunset." I replied.

"Then how do you know me?" Sora asked.

"Like I said, a couple of kids told me your name, and that you had a Keyblade. From this, I figured you had a way to travel between worlds."

"Yeah, we do. And we're always ready to help someone in need-" he was cut off when the duck grabbed his arm, and the odd group came into a huddle. I couldn't hear what half of them were saying, but I did catch "Keyblades," "untrustworthy," and "destiny." Eventually, the three turned around, and agreed to help me. The duck seemed annoyed about this, so I decided to stay away from him.

"So, Sora, Where is your ship?" I asked.

"Above us. We've finished our business here, and are headed to Hollow Bastion. Come along with us, and we'll get the captains to find your world in the meantime." I nodded in agreement as a flash of white light enveloped us. Next thing I knew, I was standing in what looked like the control room of a hot-rod red spaceship. Three seats looked out to the stars around us, but no control panel was in sight.

"So, you can use the Valor Form too?" Sora asked me.

"The what?"

"Valor Form. The magical transformation that lets you use two Keyblades."

"No, I always had the ability to split my bow in two."

"Lucky! Why didn't the Keyblade give me that power?" Sora slumped into the center chair, a large scowl visible on his face. Donald immediately grabbed his arm, and said:

"Now, Sora! Remember that our ship runs on smiles!" His beak (don't ask me how) smiled wide, and I was forced to laugh. "See, even… even… even he knows!" he turned to me. "Who are you, anyway?"

I forgot to introduce myself, then. "Name's Zack. Now, where are we headed?" I knew who they all were anyway. _Kingdom Hearts _is one of my favorite games, and I knew that they were probably searching for Riku, Kairi, and The King, Mickey. I had to hide that, though. If they knew that I knew everything, then they would probably freak out.

"Hollow Bastion. We heard that a strange pair of people appeared there, one with a giant machete and the other that spouts out nonsense. We're going there to check things out for ourselves." Sora replied.

"That sounds like my friends. I guess they were launched off of our world too. After the Heartless destroyed almost everything."

"I know how you feel, Zack. Anyway, Chip, Dale, can you hear me?"

A small monitor blipped into existence. On it were the faces of two chipmunks, one with a black nose and the other with a red one. "Loud and clear, Sora!" the black-nosed one said. The other added on, "What'cha need?"

"Can you look for this guy's home? It's a world called Earth."

"Sure! We'll have the search done when you get back on the ship."

I had hardly noticed that the ship moved and even landed while the conversation went on. We landed in a marketplace, a run-down one at that, and it overlooked a large city.

The first thing I heard when I disembarked was:

"Jews."

(A/N: More of Chris's stereotyping! Yay! I decided to go along with many a private message about that, almost all of them saying 'I love it!' or something similar. Except for the one that said 'Go F**K off for what you did'. Sheesh, give me a break. It was an idea from a friend, you can guess who, and people seem to like it. Nanoman-out.)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six  
The Newcomer

I suddenly turned around. Standing there in front of me was none other than Chris and Mike, the latter with his machete on his waist and the former with a sword and a very large shield on his back. (Insert happy reunion bro-hug here) Sora turned to face us as he said, "These guys are your friends? The ones that were causing trouble around town?"

Mike was quick to respond. "Hey, we wouldn't have destroyed that ice cream stand-"

"Or the armory shop, the skateboard depot, or that old woman's back…" Chris added on.

"Like I said, we wouldn't have done that if Chris didn't think this was all the fault of a certain religious group."

"I'm telling you, it was! All of this was totally the J-" I hit him on the top of his head with the pommel of one of my swords, knocking him out.

"I just found you guys again, I don't want to hear that crap." This brought upon a round of laughter by everybody, including Donald, who seemed to be some sort of a killjoy.

"HEARTLESS! Someone, anyone, HELP!" a woman screamed. I looked over the edge of the wall nearby. A girl, no older than myself, with black hair and clad in a black cloak, was surrounded by heartless. Some of them I recognized; the shadows and soldiers were a common sight by now. One of them I did not, though. It was large and spherical, green in color. Yellow spikes dotted its body, while skimpy-looking limbs fell out of holes in the sphere that were too large for them.

"HELP!" another voice said. Down the opposite balcony, a massive group of silvery figures were attacking a group of civilians. Some of them (the creatures) resembled humans, but others were small shields, lances, and there was one shaped like a bipedal dragon.

"Sora, take everyone and save the group. I'll get the girl." I said as I jumped off of the side of the railing. I split by bow in two, and brought both of them down on shadows. I quickly slashed to my sides to defend from the soldier's spin-kicks. The large green one jumped high in the air, and attempted to land on me. Blocking with the key in my right hand, I saw it spin in midair. I then whacked it with the other Keyblade, and sent it flying into the group as a whole. The majority of them exploded into black clouds.

"Are you all right?" I asked the girl. She nodded. Noticing that she was slumped against the wall, holding her ankle, I asked, "Can you walk?" She shook her head. I grabbed her arm, and carried her up the stairs to the gummi ship, just in time to see the rest of the group return.

"You're not too bad with that oversized key, Sora." I heard Mike say.

"Thanks. That sword isn't horrible at killing nobodies either." Sora replied. At the word 'Nobodies,' the girl shuddered.

Donald was the first to see us. He wasn't happy either. "Zack! Get away from her!" he angrily squawked.

"Why? She's hurt, and needs to get her ankle healed." I replied, rather annoyed.

Sora was on Donald's side, though. "Look at her clothes! She's part of Organization XIII, no doubt about it." He summoned his Keyblade. "What are you here for, you Nobody?" he angrily asked the girl. She fell to the ground, unable to stand. I summoned my bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed it at Sora's heart. Mike jumped to my side of the conflict, and his machete was in a ready position. Chris tripped and fell over Goofy, causing the both of them to fall down the nearby stairs. Donald was the first to react, by shouting "Fire" and laughing when the flame hit me. The arrow I had nocked flew outward, and I could barely hear Chris screaming something racist several seconds later.

One second later, Sora lunged at Mike with the Keyblade. I was up in an instant, parrying the blow and wounding his shoulder. I spun by bow in circles rapidly, creating a deadly ring of metal. I threw it out, narrowly missing Sora and flying completely over Donald. It hit Goofy as he was climbing back up the stairs, and he tumbled backwards onto Chris. The bow flew back towards me, and I caught it just in time to block an ice spell from one extremely pissed-off duck. Mike lunged with the machete, cutting Donald's magical staff in two. The resulting explosion took out several shops and cardboard homes in the area.

I used the cover of the explosion to grab Mike and the girl, and run onto the gummi ship. I closed the bay doors to the ship, and activated the launch sequence. In seconds, the blackness of space surrounded us. "Are you guys all right?" I asked.

"Shaken, but I'll still live. Balls, that hurt." Mike said. The girl nodded her head, still clutching her ankle. I looked through the ship's cabinets, and found a green bottle with a star in it. I had seen Sora use this to heal wounds, so I opened it above the girl. She stopped holding her ankle, and stood up. I was given a hug in thanks.

"Can you talk?" Mike asked her. She simply shook her head.

"Do you have a name?" I asked, holding out a piece of paper and a pencil. She took the items, scribbled four letters on it, and handed it back. The four letters were X-I-O-N.

Meanwhile, back in Hollow Bastion, Donald was Fuming, and squawked around in the incomprehensible duck language. "Did they really just take our ship?" Sora asked. In the background, all they could hear was "I told you!"

(A/N: How's that for a plot twist? Anyway, I don't know how to fly a gummi ship. Crap.)


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
Greetings, Program

It wasn't long after we took the ship when the chipmunks came on the screen again. "Hey, where's Sora?" The black-nosed one said.

"Not here. We took the ship."

"Turn around now! This ship is official property of King Mickey and-"

"Listen, you hyperactive rat, I don't give a damn about who owns this. I really don't want to listen to you, either." Before the hyperactive chipmunks could respond, I punched the monitor, causing it to crack and break.

"Hey, Zack," Mike started. "Could you do a head count here?" I turned the chair around, and counted myself, Mike, and Xion. Wait a minute… where was Chris?

"Aw, crap. We forgot Chris, didn't we?" Mike just nodded and muttered 'Balls' under his breath. I turned the wheel around, and Hollow Bastion was in front of us once again. We landed in a different section of town, and the three of us disembarked. "Let's split up. Mike, go uptown, where we were earlier. I'll take Xion Downtown."

"Explain to me why you're looking with Xion?"

"Because she can't, or chooses not to, talk." Mike was less convinced when he saw the slight blush on my face. "Shut up, man!" he walked off, shouting Chris's name, while I turned to Xion. Even though no sound was heard, it was obvious she was laughing. "You too, Xion. This is a rescue mission, not a 'laugh at Zack' one." We headed through a tunnel, only to see a bronze tower at the top of a large hill, more like a mountain. The landscape looked as if it was made of blue crystal rather than stone. "Maybe someone up there's seen him."

Heartless attacked us on the way up, but the garden-variety shadows were no match for me. Xion attacked with an oversized tree branch, somehow able to hit the creatures. It wasn't long until we reached the tower and found its entrance.

"Gosh, I hope they're okay." A squeaky voice stated. It was followed by a deeper one that said, "Don't worry, your majesty. It's Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They'll be all right."

_Great. Not them again. _I thought. Xion and I walked into the room, and saw the two figures. One was a tall guy, probably in his late twenties. He had a windblown look to his hair, and wore an open black jacket with blue pants. The other figure was none other than Mickey Mouse. _Don't say that you know who he is- that might complicate things._ Instead, "Hi. We got lost looking for our friend and we'd like to know if you've seen him."

The tall guy spoke first. "What are your names? I'm Leon, and this is King Mickey. We can help."

"Well, Leon, I'm Zack. The girl behind me is Xion." She waved to the two, after she entered the room. "I believe her to be mute, since she hasn't spoken a word since I met her. She's written responses and questions in a notebook." To my surprise, Mickey summoned a Keyblade. It was identical to Sora's, but had silver hand guards and a golden blade. Leon followed suit, and drew a long, silver blade from nowhere. I stood in front of Xion, and nocked an arrow on the bow I just summoned.

Mickey instantly lowered his blade. "You have a Keyblade too?" I nodded in response. "Why did you side with the Organization?"

"That's the second time I heard about this organization. Tell me, if that cloak," I point to Xion's clothing, "Means you are part of it, then why are you wearing one, your majesty?"

"I was spying on them from within one of their bases, the Castle Oblivion."

"Hmm. Like I said," I put away my bow, and Leon was the last to sheathe his weapon. "I only want to find my friend. He's a little taller than me, has curly hair, and spews off a racist comment every five seconds."

Leon slapped his hand to his face. "You mean the idiot who overloaded the circuitry here, and trapped himself in a virtual world?"

"That sounds like him. How do we get in?" Leon moved to a large computer, and told me to hit the big, red button. I did so, and a tiny laser started to…digitize (?) Xion and I. next thing I knew, we were in some kind of virtual grid. My clothes were replaced with a skin-tight jumpsuit, black with green strip-lights on it. Xion was wearing one with blue lights.

"Welcome, Users, to the Game Grid. We now have enough contestants for the Games." A group of people surrounded us. It was Sora, Donald, Goofy, a guy that was made of circuitry, and Chris, all in the jumpsuits Xion and I were in. "You will each take a Light Cycle. The one who defeats the most enemies within the time allotted, or is the last one standing, will be the winner!"

"We'll just get out like last time, Tron. Trick the enemy to blow a hole in the wall." Sora told the circuit-man. Seven bars of light appeared in front of us. Sora and his friends each grabbed one, and they became motorcycles as the four raced off. Chris cautiously grabbed one, and sped off as well, although he screamed bloody murder the whole time.

"Can you drive one of these?" I said to Xion. She shrugged, which I took as 'Maybe.' She grabbed one of the light bars, and as her motorcycle sped off, I jumped on the back of it. The last bar of light flew over to me and attached itself to my leg. Summoning my bow, I nocked an arrow, and took aim at the hordes of digital heartless ahead of the six vehicles.

This was going to be fun.

(A/N: WooHoo! Tron! I don't know about anyone else, but the light cycle portion of KH2 was one of my favorite parts. Anyway, in other news, I've received an astonishing number of e-mails and Pm's [I think they're all from the same guy using multiple accounts] asking how to pronounce Xion's name. It's pronounced SHE-on, not ZI-own like I've known some people to. Anyway, stay tuned for the next great installment, or don't. It's not like I actually expect many people to read this. I'll play Minecraft instead. *Creeper Spawns behind me* OH SHI- *explosion*)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight  
MCP-and Randomness!

The cycle was moving along at a fast pace. I shot at heartless from afar while balancing on Xion's bike. Chris was a battering ram, knocking into everything as it approached him. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were using digitized versions of their weapons, while the tech being known as Tron used some sort of high-tech Frisbee. Soon, a large, purple tank-like heartless blasted a hole in the wall. As we raced towards it, the attacks became more and more fierce until we passed through it. Chris got hit, and his bike exploded. I jumped off of Xion's bike, grabbed the light bar off of my leg, and it turned into one of my own, onto which Chris landed. "I blame the-"

"Yeah, yeah, we all know who, ya crazy idiot." I quickly responded.

Up ahead, Tron called out, "We need to reach the MCP and delete it. Then the system can be free for everybody." I was just about to ask where to go when he shouted, "Follow me!" He led us into an intricate network of caverns. I steadily adjusted to the controls of the bike; it turned by hitting directional buttons on the right handlebar (always turning in a ninety-degree angle) while the left controlled speed. It was like a video game.

We eventually stopped the bikes at what looked like an airplane hangar. As we got off, Tron put his Frisbee into a slot on a machine. What looked like a flat boat appeared on a ribbon of light. Everyone got on, and it sped off. "This should take us directly to the MCP."

"That's the second time you mentioned that." I said. "What is the MCP?"

"The Master Control Program. It went rampant and is closing the system off as we speak. If we don't stop it soon, it will render the system's functions obsolete. Or worse, militarize the terra firma-"

"English, please," Sora said.

"I apologize. Basically, the MCP will shut down the system, or use it to attack your world." Heartless attacked us on the way there, but with two Keyblade wielders, a mage, a knight, a digital warrior, and a girl who's good at hitting things with a giant stick, they were easily defeated. Chris managed to take out some by throwing a larger one into a group of small, fast ones (They were yellow in color; I called them 'Strafers,' due to their attack pattern.)

We soon reached a small platform that led to the "Central Computer Mesa," as Tron called it. We entered a small rift in the canyon wall, and the biggest, most repulsive pixilated face stared at us. "That's the MCP?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, pretty ugly, huh?" Tron responded.

"I'm afraid I can't let you any farther." A cold voice said behind us. It belonged to a red-colored program, who had decorative spikes coming off of his helmet. A group of Heartless was behind him.

"Who's this guy?" I asked.

"Sark, The MCP's number two." Tron said.

The battle commenced. Sora and the others were quickly overcome by a wall of Heartless that attacked them. I let loose a few arrows at Sark, and some of them hit home. Most were intercepted by Heartless, while one hit Chris. He screamed bloody murder at me when I did so. Eventually, Sark fell, as did his Heartless.

"Sark, I will repair your functions." A booming voice echoed through the Mesa. "All of my functions are now yours to command." It was big, bad MCP himself (or herself; you never know). Sark grew gigantic, at least twenty times my height. Barriers erupted around the MCP, and Sark created a data-wall several yards behind us.

"Sora, Take Donald, Goofy and Tron. Destroy the MCP! Xion, you're with me. Let's take down Sark!" I said.

"What about me?" Chris asked.

I thought for a moment, then said, "Try not to get killed."

Sora and the others started to hack at the firewall near the MCP. Chris ducked under Sark's legs, and ran out of the Mesa. I separated my bow into its twin sword form, and started to attack Sark's legs, to no success. Sark pile-drived the ground, sending Xion flying. She landed against a wall, and slumped down. Tron announced the de-resolution of the MCP, while I ran straight up the wall that Sark made. As the MCP exploded, I dived off of the top of the wall, and aimed the points of my swords at Sark's head. My blades hit home, and his metal melon cracked open as he disintegrated into tiny cubes.

Back in the real world (we were able to return after the MCP's destruction) Chris celebrated by dancing around, while Sora and his friends talked with Leon and Mickey. Xion was waking up, and I asked her, "Are you okay?" She wrote on her notepad the word 'Yes.' She stood up, and Sora walked over to us.

"You're not that bad, Xion." Sora said. She nodded happily and had a big, goofy grin on her face. "I guess we can let you guys tag along with us. Just promise not to take our ship again."

"Sure thing, Sora. Just hope you don't start any more fights." We were walking outside, all six of us, when Mike came running up the street. I had forgotten he was here as well.

"Where the hell were you guys?" he said "I've been kiting these Heartless for the past two hours!" A large group of Heartless was behind him; further back, I could see some Nobodies.

All I could say as I nocked an arrow on my bow was, "Sorry bro, we got trapped in a computer. And you've been playing too much Call of Duty, my friend."

(A/N: Haha! Another chapter down! Please note- if you are reading this, and you have an OC [original character] for any Disney world in KH2, or the KH universe itself, let me know all the details. If it sounds good, I'll include them in my story. Please R&R! please? I don't get much fan-mail, *Computer- you have one new email message.* Hmm… already? *Opens email.* what the- *Warning! Computer virus detected! Hard drive- corrupted. All data not having to do with has been deleted. This computer will self destruct in 3… 2… 1…* Oh, crap. Goodbye, everybody! *Ka-boom*)


	9. Chapter 9

(sorry for the past couple of weeks. I know I said every Friday; but school end of year tests got in the way. But now I'm on summer vacation, and the updates shall resume on almost every Friday, since I do also HAVE A LIFE, contrary to what some people think. Without further ado, let the randomness continue!)

Chapter 9  
The Aqua Sitar

Mike was being chased by a literal wave of heartless. The shadow variety was almost nonexistent, being replaced entirely of silver knight-like ones, complete with swords longer than mine. The only other kind were small floating hourglasses, a bronze color with black cylinders on their sides and a spiky black ring underneath them, detached from the actual heartless body.

"Armored Knights and Surveillance Drones!" Sora shouted, "They're not that tough individually, but in large numbers they are a real threat!" I looked at the horde that Mike brought with him. There were a lot more than "large numbers."

"Uh, Sora… I just did a head count… there's only six of us, and an endless horde of them…" Chris chimed up behind me.

"What about me? There are seven of us."

"Sorry, Chris. Then we have six fighters and comedic relief."

"Hey!"

"Knock it off! Everybody! Attack!" the duck in our group yelled. I launched arrow after arrow at the horde, while Donald set a large group on fire. Sora, Goofy, and Mike bashed at the front lines with their weapons. Xion grabbed a metal pipe off of the ground, and swung it like a club at the heartless as well. Chris was dodging attacks, and parkour was his method of choice.

A lump was in my pocket. I hadn't noticed it before. I halted my attack for a second, and pulled out a small, blue, almost digital arrowhead. I found a similarly-shaped trinket in my vambrace, which looked like a normal one. I plucked the normal one out, and my bow disappeared. Curious, I placed the blue one in. My bow reappeared, and it was blue and digital. I pulled back on the invisible string, and an electric blue arrow appeared. When it hit a heartless, it released a bolt of electricity that chained to six others.

"How'd you do that, Zack?" Mike yelled back.

"I don't know, an odd blue arrowhead let me change weapons or something"

"It means you got a new Keyblade." Sora said as he exchanged the keychain on the end of his blade with one that had a star and moon on it. The blade curved, and the key's teeth became a crescent moon and stars. The whole thing turned blue and white.

"Huh. Cool." I said as I separated my bow. The blades were large and tube-like, the same odd color of electric blue. Each hit sent a ton of volts through its target. Xion's pipe was ripped from her hand when a laser from the floating turrets hit it. On instinct, I threw one of my swords at her. She caught it, but it was instantly teleported back to my hand. I forgot that each Keyblade can only be used by its chosen wielder.

I stepped in front of her, and defended all attacks headed in our direction. We cut a path straight through the hordes, and met up with the King at a cliff made of the same blue stone the tower was built on. "Sora, I want you and the others to get out of here. It's far too dangerous for you to stay."

"But, your majesty! My friends are down there! They need my help!" Sora replied.

"With all due respect, your majesty," I said, "You don't rule over me or my friends. Sora, we'll help them." With that, Mike, Chris, Xion, and I jumped over the side of the cliff, landing in a small pool of water. We ran forward, and found ourselves in a small arena. A black-hooded figure stood in our way.

"Waah! They saw me!" He took down his hood, and revealed blonde, spiky hair as well as ocean-blue eyes. He pulled out a small card, and squinted at it, as if it was hard to read. "Let's see… if anyone spots you before you get to the Keyblade wielder, dispose of them… man, did they send the wrong guy for this job…"

"Excuse me? Before you get to the Keyblade wielder?" I said. My bow was in my hand in seconds.

"Oh, great… they didn't tell me about a second Key-brat… man, they never tell me, Demyx, anything…" He shot his hand into the air, and a large pool of water hovered above it. The pool condensed, and formed a sitar, silver in color, with three spikes on the end. A force field erupted on the battlefield, locking my friends out, and leaving me in a one-on-one fight against this guy.

"Dance, water! Dance!" He said. Clones of himself appeared, made entirely of water. My new electric blades made short work of them as I hacked and slashed through them. After the last clone was but a puddle, Demyx launched himself at me, swinging his sitar like an axe. I was hit one, two, three times, and sent flying to the edge of the arena. I slammed against the barrier, and suffered electric shocks by its contact.

Xion waved frantically, and threw a green jar at me. It passed through the force field when we could not, and its contents spilled on me. The greenish liquid healed my wounds, and put more vigor into my system. Demyx dashed at me, launching large columns of water at my person. When the attacks subsided, I slashed him with my dual blades. I was in a fury, full of adrenaline from the potion. He landed on his feet, and started playing his sitar again.

"C'mon, kick it to the beat!" He shouted, as large blasts of water assaulted me. I fell onto my back, my bow re-formed in my left hand. Demyx was playing his sitar, obviously thinking he won. I stood on my feet, and noticed where he was standing- if science class taught me anything, it was that water is not something that you should stand in if electricity is nearby. I jumped into the air, and launched an overcharged arrow at the soaked ground. The resulting electrical surge was so great it actually resulted in Demyx exploding.

He was slowly disappearing in dark waves when the smoke cleared. He noticed Xion, dressed in her cloak as per usual. "Xion… is that you…?" He said as he simply evaporated into black fog. Chris picked up the sitar on the ground, and said, "Hey, according to our school, guitars are deadly weapons."

"But dude, that's not a guitar…" Mike responded.

"Close enough." Chris said. Xion had scribbled on the pad she "talked" with, saying That was cool!

"Well, I want to know something, Xion. How did he know you?" She simply scribbled three letters- I,D,K.

"Whatever. Now, let's go save the day, guys!" I said. We charged down a hill, fighting Heartless as we descended.

Man, I could get used to this. With my bow, Mike's machete, Chris's new sitar, and Xion's talent at finding big sticks to hit things with, nothing could stop us.

That's when we were surrounded by Heartless. By the looks of it, according to Mike's shout several seconds ago, "There's over nine-thousand of them!" This should be interesting.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
A Third Key

The heartless swarmed us. They were everywhere, a literal wave of darkness. Chris was the first casualty- he was too new to his weapon to be effective in combat. Last I saw him, he was flying through the air when a Heartless zapped him with a giant laser beam. It was a larger version of the Surveillance Drone, colored red instead of bronze. I launched an arrow into the small hole it had for its eyes, and watched it explode.

Mike was taken down next. I saw several Heartless jab him with their blades, and he went to the ground severely injured. Xion and I were backed into a corner, defenseless and exhausted. The creatures lunge at us, and I felt the sour taste of blood in my mouth as the sharp blades hit me. I fell onto one knee, barely able to hold my weapons. I took many of them with me, but they just kept coming.

Then, Xion came from behind me, and grabbed my bow from my hand. A bright light enveloped both of us, and when I opened my eyes, I still had my weapon in my hands. Xion, however, was holding a Keyblade. It was silver and black, with alternating colors for the teeth. It looked as if two other Keyblades were forced together to create one… two became one…

Her Keyblade was striking through the Heartless, cutting a path straight through them. She tossed another potion at me, and I saw some of my more severe wounds close up. I stood on my feet, and launched my electrified arrows out into the horde, searching for any sign of my friends. I saw Mike on the ground, bleeding heavily from many wounds. "Xion!" I shouted, hoping she would throw another potion at me. She did, but I caught it and poured its contents onto Mike. He stood up, and said,

"Decided to revive your best guy, huh? Smart Plan." And so he was back in the fray, slashing down anything in his path with his machete. I found Chris in a less severe state; he had some minor burns from the laser, but he was unconscious and on a cliff. I left him there, thinking that it would be safer for him to be out of the fighting; he was too unpredictable. I turned around, and launched a few arrows into the horde, when the big one appeared.

It looked like a larger Armored Knight, but crimson in color. It had two swords, fused into its arms. Both blades coursed with electricity. Xion jumped and slashed at its legs, while Mike lunged for its torso. Chris regained consciousness, and started to play the sitar in the same fashion Demyx did, and to my great surprise, water clones of himself burst forth in a suicide mission towards the enemy. I launched an arrow at the thing, but it seemed to do no damage. Instead, it appeared to make our foe stronger.

"Hey, genius! Electricity doesn't do well against the same!" Mike shouted back at me. Well, I guess you could whack me on the head and call me an idiot for not seeing that one. I switched the arrowhead out for the normal one, and used the key-shaped arrows to put pressure on the giant Heartless.

Xion was the one to take it out, by jumping on the thing's head and driving her Keyblade into its tiny head. One small explosion later, Xion and I banished our weapons, while Mike sheathed his machete and Chris strung the sitar on his back. I high-fived Mike and Chris, but Xion didn't seem to get the concept. There was also a small glimmer on the ground. I picked up a red, circular gem, and felt power course through me. Unsure, I just put it in my back pocket.

"Xion! Where the hell did you get that Keyblade?" Mike asked our mute friend. She simply shrugged, while Chris was muttering something about the Christians helping her out. What that guy has against religion, I will never know.

"Hey, Xion…" I started, "That was cool. Now that we have another Keyblade, our job should be much easier… And thanks for saving my life."

Mike pulled me aside, and said, "Hey, Zack, are you trying to smooth talk Xion?"

"What..? No! I-I mean…" I felt a flash of heat on my face, giving away my embarrassment.

"Ha! You totally are!" Mike turned around, obviously going to tell everyone, but I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"Don't tell anyone! Please, Mike, I never did anything bad to you. And remember that time I covered for you?"

"Uhh… remind me."

"You know, that time in Elementary School and the overflowing toilet…"

"Oh crap! You promised not to tell a soul about that!"

"Yeah. You don't tell people about how I feel, and I won't tell anyone about that."

"…Deal…"

We rejoined the rest of the group, and saw a certain trio emerge from over the hill. Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran next to us, obviously exhausted from the travel. "What took you guys so long?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, we only destroyed, like, a THOUSAND of those Heartless wimps!" Mike said.

"We found something. We were wondering if any of you could recognize it."

I quickly whispered to my friends, "Pretend you don't if you do. We don't want to spook them because we know about their adventures already." They nodded.

Sora held out a picture. "This was in a small box along with some sea-salt ice cream. Donald ate the ice cream, though." I took the picture and looked at it. I saw a picture of Hayner, Pence, and Olette, as well as a fourth person that I recognized. Mike and Chris recognized him as well, but we didn't say anything about him.

"That kinda looks like that group from Twilight Town, but with another member…" I said. I passed the picture to Xion, to see if she could remember anything.

Her face turned as pale as a ghost when her eyes fell on the picture of Roxas.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
The Truth

"Alright, everybody." Sora said on the gummi ship. "There are two worlds we need to look in for Organization XIII's hidden base. The two worlds are The Land of Dragons and Beast's Castle."

Xion sat next to me. She hadn't written a single word other than "I remember" since she saw the picture. I stood up, and said "It's easy. We split up into our groups. Sora, Donald, and Goofy go to one world while I take Mike, Chris, and Xion to the other." I looked at the two worlds carefully. "And we'll take Beast's Castle. Looks like a better hiding spot."

Sora thought it was a great idea, so the next thing I knew, I was in a Star Trek "Beam me down" situation. We were standing outside of a magnificent castle, its stone walls towering high above us. "Cool place," Mike said," But when do we get to crack some heads?"

"We don't. We're on a search-and-destroy mission, remember?" I said. Xion fell to her knees next to me. "Why don't you two go in the castle and start looking? I'll see if Xion is alright." Chris started to object, but Mike covered his mouth and walked him inside, making sure to drop him once or twice on the steps.

I knelt down next to Xion. "Everything alright?" I asked. She nodded, and moved her mouth as if to speak. All that came out was air. "Here, tell me what's on your mind. It'll help you get it off of your chest." I handed her the pad of paper she communicated with as well as a pen. She wrote down some words. Then some more. When she handed it to me, I saw a rather large paragraph written down when I compared it to the short sentences she usually wrote. As I read it, tears formed in Xion's eyes.

_"I'm Xion, number XIV of the Organization XIII. My best friends are number X, Axel, and number XIII, Roxas. I wield the Keyblade in order to accomplish the organization's goals. I don't know how I got here, but I do know that the Organization now wishes to destroy me. I don't know why I can't speak, or how the Keyblade came back to me, either. I'm sorry for lying to you, truly, I am. If you hate me for who I am, I understand. After all, the Organization was the cause of your world's destruction as much as the Heartless were."_

I was shocked, and surprised. Sure, since I played the game, I knew she was part of the Organization, but the rest of it? I've never heard (or read, in this case) a more honest confession in my life. "Xion, I don't care where you're from. I don't care who you were before we met. All I care about is who you are now, and as a person. I'm not mad at you. Please, Xion, just realize that I'm on your side, no matter which one it is."

Xion looked at me, and smiled. I dried off her tears with a bandana I always keep in my pocket (seriously, with cargo shorts, I can carry a lot of stuff I haven't even mentioned yet). I got up, and helped Xion to her feet. As I turned around to lead the way to the castle, Xion prodded me with her pad. _"Please don't tell anyone, Zack."_

"I won't tell anyone until you want me to, Xion." She seemed happy at that, and before I knew it, I was being hugged. Getting a little embarrassed, I walked forward a little, breaking out of it. "Xion, let's go. Let's go find the Organization and figure out why they want to kill you."

We went inside the castle, to see an amusing sight. Chris and Mike were being chased around by a small clock and a candlestick, which were running around and accusing them of trespassing. A talking candlestick and clock. Wow, what kind of world is this? Xion and I walked forward, only to have the candlestick jump on my face, talking in a really fast French accent. I barely understood it.

This is going to be fun.

(A/N: Ahhhh! Another chapter done and out of the way. It's short, I know, but get over it. All the other chapters were long and hard to write due to massive story changes; give me a break! Now, since the story should roughly equal that of KH2, they should be back to normal size by next week. Oh, and as an added question, which world would you rather me go in: Agrabah or Halloween Town, since both of those are at a "Split" in the game's playable path? Please leave your answers by comment, or demand I make a poll, which I'd probably do anyway. *opens e-mail* hmm... more hate mail… *E-mail message opens automatically* a virus? I'll just run… *computer electrically shocks me, sending me crashing to the ground anime-style* Ow… see you later folks…)


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12  
The Beast of Valor

"What are you strangers doing in our home? Have you business here?" the talking clock asked us. I had managed to calm everyone down, and settle into a more… talkative state.

"We're looking for any sign of Organization XIII. Can you help us?" I said. Xion can't talk, and I told my friends to not say anything; knowing them, it would only make the situation worse.

"Hmm… what does this Organization look like?" The candlestick asked.

"They all wear coats similar to my friend's here," I said, while pointing to Xion. "But trust me; she's not one of them. Have you seen anyone wearing that?"

"Hmm… the Master is visited almost daily by a fellow named Xaldin… and he wears one of those coats!" the candlestick said. The clock, however, interrupted.

"No, Lumiere! We can't let them see the Master! You know the only outsider he's okay with is that boy Sora!"

"Sora, eh? He's well-known then. We're friends of his. As for proof…" I rummaged around in my pocket, and pulled out a small, blue gem.

"Zack, where'd you get that?" Mike asked.

"Sora gave it to me when we first met." I said. I was lying; I really took it from the gummi ship at the last second.

"Cogsworth, that's the gem Sora had on him when he came here! We can trust them if they have it!" Lumiere, the candlestick, spoke.

"Alright, alright. But if the Master kills us all, don't blame me." The clock, Cogsworth, said. "Follow me, our esteemed guests." He hopped off, giving us no choice but to follow.

"Esteemed guests? That's rather fast change of attitude." Mike said.

"I'm pretty sure that the…" Chris started.

"Please, not another of your ridiculous conspiracies, Chris."

"QUIET DOWN, ALL OF YOU!" Cogsworth said. "If you wish to see the Master, then you must do it quietly and on his terms."

"Makes sense to me." I said. "Mike, Chris, please don't get us killed because you both can't shut up for five minutes."

Both of them pointed to each other and said "He started it."

"Why don't you two go to that sitting room over there and not touch anything?"

"I agree with the young one." Cogsworth said. "We don't need you two angering the Master." Mike and Chris silently protested, but went inside after a talking teapot offered them food if they did. "Thank you, Mrs. Potts."

"Oh, it's no problem, Cogsworth." The teapot said.

_"What a strange place"_ Xion wrote. I nodded in agreement. We were led down a few very fancy hallways, when Lumiere said "Don't get too comfortable in the plush side of our lovely home. The Master lives in the West Wing, and he… redecorated." We found out how when we turned a corner. It was completely different from the bright, cheery reds and golds of the castle - everything was dark, dreary, and shaded blue and gray. I saw several claw and slash marks in the walls, and large, imposing footprints created depressions in the floor.

"Just what did your Master turn into?" I asked. They had explained something about a curse afflicting their castle, transforming all of the residents.

Lumiere was the one who spoke. "He turned into a hideous Beast, with long, sharp claws and teeth!"

"Here we go again," Cogsworth said.

"He was turned into such a beast since he could not learn to love, and be loved in return. The only way the curse can be broken is if he finds true love that loves him in return before he comes of age."

"I'll be sure to be on my best behavior." Xion gulped when she compared her size to the claw marks on the wall. I felt scared out of my skin, and I hope it didn't show. We were led to a lone door at the end of a desolate hall, and Cogsworth told us that the Master was inside. Carefully, I opened the door, to see a figure in a tattered, purple cloak hunched over a glowing rose in a glass dome. Another hooded figure was in the room, speaking to the Beast.

"She only wishes to corrupt you… make you feel secure, then take your treasure and run…" the figure said. The cloak he wore matched Xion's stitch for stitch.

"Belle… wants to deceive me?" I heard a rough voice say. I realized it came from the Beast.

"Wants? No, my friend. She already has." The figure disappeared in a void of darkness, as the Beast turned around, glowing with rage.

"Who are you?" He yelled at Xion and I.

"We are friends of Sora, and we only-"

"GET OUT OF MY CASTLE!" The beast lunged at us, knocking Xion and Lumiere to the side. I summoned my bow, and raised it in defense.

"No! I'm on your side!" He didn't seem to understand me. He was only attacking, lunging at me with tooth and claw. I finally had enough, and launched an electrified arrow into his maw, sending him reeling back. "I really did not want to do that." I said. In the distance, I heard a female voice scream in help.

"Belle!" the Beast screamed. He turned around, and even I hadn't noticed that the rose was missing. "My rose!" he ran out of the room on all fours, and I barely dodged his rush. Xion got up with a questioning look, and I simply said "Follow me."

We were joined by Mike, who saw the beast run out of the now open front doors. "Chris ate too much and passed out. I think they spiked the cream puffs."

"I'm sure they did. And I'm sure Chris won't blame the staff." I said as the three of us ran out onto the bridge leading away from the castle. Mike drew his machete as Xion and I summoned our Keyblades. We stopped next to the Beast, and at the other end was the Organization member from earlier, whom I presume is Xaldin. He was holding the glass dome with the rose in one hand, and a girl in the other.

"Hmm… I guess I should be off, but I like to travel light. Which should I leave? Belle? Or the rose?"

The beast immediately said, "Belle!" the girl was let go, but she kicked Xaldin's leg and grabbed the rose, running past us back into the castle. "Good job, Belle!" I said as she ran past us. Xaldin, however, was not very amused.

"You!" he pointed at Xion. "You will die for betraying us!" He was, in seconds, surrounded by six small tornadoes of dust. They condensed into six lances, of which he grabbed three while he hovered above the ground. The other three swirled around him in a vortex of wind.

The battle had begun. I launched arrow after electrically charged arrow, providing covering fire for Xion, Mike, and the Beast. Xaldin was dodging every attack thrown at him, and sliced four of his lances across the Beast, sending him flying across the bridge. The other two smacked Mike away, in the same direction as the Beast.

I felt a burning sensation in my pocket. The red stone I found in Hollow Bastion was burning against my palm when I pulled it out. I threw it against the ground, eager to get it away from me while I continued my attack. The gem cracked, and released a red smoke that circled and curled around me. My entire body glowed red, and my clothes changed to that color with a black chain design covering them. My bow morphed, and when all was said and done, I was standing in clothes I have never seen before, with a crossbow in my hands. Loaded in the crossbow was a small, key-shaped bolt.

Without thinking, I pulled the trigger, and the bolt flew out with dazzling speed to strike Xaldin square in the chest. The weapon automatically loaded another bolt into itself, and I found out that I somehow had an automatic-firing crossbow. Xaldin's spears combined, and formed some sort of giant dragon cannon… thing. I jumped – really high. Like I was on the moon or something. I landed on the top of it, standing next to my foe. "Why do you want to kill Xion?" I asked the man.

"She betrayed the Organization by deserting us and attempting to kill our No. XIII. In retrospect, I would have liked her to actually kill him, since he deserted us as well." Xaldin looked me up and down, as if sizing me up. "I tire of talk. You will die for helping our traitor."

He blasted me with wind, but I launched a few bolts into the dragon and grabbed onto them. The wind subsided, and I launched my ammo at point-blank range into his chest. The spear-vehicle vanished in waves of darkness, and so did Xaldin. I fell, and I swear I would have died if the Beast didn't save me.

The red vapor vanished, and my clothes and weapons returned to their normal state. I banished my Keyblade, and saw the red gem fall to the ground. It was dull, lacking the crimson hues it had before. I placed it in my pocket, and found that the heat had also left it.

"I… I can't thank you three enough for helping Belle and I…" the Beast said. These were the first kind words I had heard him say. He said them with an odd expression on his face, like it actually pained him to calm down and say nice things. "I would be honored if you would stay in my castle for a while."

"Sure, if you don't mind our fourth member eating most of your kitchen, if I heard Mike correctly. Besides, we can't exactly leave until Sora comes to pick us up." I said. It was true. I had no idea when that kid would get us, and I had no way of communicating with him. And a nice, hot meal was now the only thing on my mind.

"Ah! More rooms to prepare!" Cogsworth said as we entered the foyer of the castle. Lumiere added on, "Welcome, welcome, monsieur's and mademoiselle! Please, relax, and be our guests tonight!"

(A/N: this was a fun chapter to write. And a long one- makes up for last chapter, I suppose. Any opinions of my valor form? I got the auto crossbow idea from Link's Crossbow Training for the Wii. It has come to my attention that the chapter limit on is 100. Therefore, I shall make several more stories after the KH2 storyline ends, detailing adventures in other game worlds, since my chapter count will eventually reach that. The overall plot will still never end! Also, people seem to like me randomly dying at the end of every chapter in the author's note. Alright, I'll do it more often then. But don't expect it every chapter. See ya next time!)


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13  
A New Ally

We all enjoyed our time at the Beast's Castle. Chris ate himself to the point of passing out again until Mrs. Potts didn't serve him any more food. Mike found a scabbard for his machete, which was better than the loop of leather he used before. I experimented with my new Keyblade I won off of Xaldin; when I put the arrowhead in my vambrace, my bow turned midnight purple with a floral design on it, roses to be exact. It shot arrows that were made of plant thorns, and it did slightly more damage to a tree I used for practice than my normal arrows.

Xion found a change of clothes, so she wasn't mistaken for the Organization anymore. She now wore navy blue boots (no heel) that came up mid-calf, with small yellow lines that spider webbed across them. A dark blue skirt was around her waist, supported by a small, dark yellow belt. A slightly lighter-colored sleeveless shirt hung loosely off of her shoulders, barely meeting the skirt at her waist. She found a matching hair band to put on her head, as well as fingerless gloves that also went with her outfit, trimmed at the wrist with more yellow.

Sora had stopped by to see if we found out anything about Organization XIII. I told him that we defeated their No. III, Xaldin, but didn't figure anything else out. He seemed happy for us, but Donald was as sour as ever. "What's our next destination?" I asked him when onboard the gummi ship.

"Yeah, I wanna kick butt and kill some Heartless freaks!" Mike said. He was sharpening his machete in a corner of the ship.

"Olympus Coliseum. Maybe Hercules will have some info for us." Sora responded. On the horizon, (or could it be called that in space?) I saw a lone world floating on a massive cloud. Xion bumped my arm with her pad.

_"Watch out!"_ it read. I looked out to the side, and saw a large asteroid heading straight for our ship. I tapped Sora on his shoulder, and then pointed at the rock. He panicked, and the ship was hit hard. So hard, in fact, that part of it blew off, sending Xion, Mike, and myself out into space. We were caught by the world's gravity, and sent flying towards its surface.

When I came to, I found myself in a large cavern, complete with an ominous purple lake. A small green pool of water was in the center of the area, which had three paths leading out of it. Mike was floating in the water, and so I pulled him out. "Ugh… who hit me?" were the words out of his mouth.

"The ground, my friend. You see Xion anywhere? She got hurled out with us." I looked toward a large blue-trimmed stone door, and noticed a strip of black fabric caught in it. I rushed over, Mike not far behind, and examined the piece of Xion's cloak. "She's this way!" I grabbed Mike's arm, and ran almost as fast as a certain blue hedgehog down into the caves past the door. We headed into a large, circular cave, in which there was only one other path. As we headed towards it, however, a large, black mound fell from the ceiling, and barriers erupted from the exits. Mike drew the Machete, and I summoned my bow.

The black mound stood up on four big, but not relatively long legs. It turned around to face us, to reveal one… two… "Three heads! That means three times the pain!" Mike said. He jumped up, ready to slash the monster that I recognized from Greek myth to be Cerberus, when it batted him away with a swipe of its paw. I looked up, and launched several arrows into its center head, which only succeeded in getting all three's attention.

"Ah, crap." I ran as far away as I could from the mutt, only to have it shoot energy balls at me, which I shot out of the air with my arrows. The thing leaped high in the air and crashed down next to me, releasing a shockwave that sent my limp body flying. I bounced off of a wall, and landed next to Mike. I saw a flash of light in a corner of the cavern, and then a figure flew into the heads of Cerberus, wielding a giant key. A second figure appeared, a girl with hair so brown it looked red, or was it the other way around? Whoever she was, she used some kind of stick with a ribbon on it to tangle up the beast's legs.

"Hey, you girls can't have all the fun!" Mike shouted as her ran towards the creature, brandishing his machete above his head. He landed on the left head, and drove his blade down into the beast's neck, severing the head completely. I launched more arrows at the thing, using my new bow. Xion batted away with her Keyblade, while the mysterious girl tugged hard on her ribbon, causing Cerberus to trip. Mike jumped, and repeated what he did to the left head to the center one. He landed next to me, saying, "Hey, I guess he's all right now!"

"Really, Mike? The whole world of monster humor open to you, and you pick that?" He laughed, and simply charged at the last head. After the beast was good and dead from Mike's craziness, Xion ran towards us, obviously happy to see us. I, however, turned to the girl. "Who are you?"

"Me? My name is Ana. Xion and I met in the tunnels. I've been here ever since my world was consumed by the heartless."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Zack, and that guy over there is Mike. We're trying to find a way out of here, now that we found Xion." Some more small talk went on with the mysterious girl Ana, and she agreed to help us. We traveled back to the area with the green pool, only to see Sora talking to a guy in a long, red coat. Damn, that guy's popular around the worlds.

(Woo! Another chapter done! Ana is an OC submitted by Iriss-sama, and belongs to her. Thanks for letting me use her in the story! I am accepting more OC's for this story and others, so if you have a good one, then please share. I can't guarantee everyone's character to appear, but many will. Nanoman, out.)


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter XIV  
The Hades Cup

Sora introduced the man as Auron. "Hello." He said, rather gloomily, as he walked off.

"Is he always like that?" I asked.

"Yeah, Auron's not too big on the whole social thing." A short, cyan figure ran up to us. It had a pointed head, ears, tail… you name it, it looked pointy.

"Are you here to sign up for the Hades Cup? We have both divisions open for one spot each." It held up a small sign, which had a tournament tree on it. The tournament had two brackets, with the winners of each fighting each other.

"We'll sign up!" Mike immediately said. I kind of wanted to go along as well. The team limit was three, however, so Sora, Donald, and Goofy made one team while Mike, Xion, and myself made up the other. Chris and Ana would watch from the sidelines. The one main rule of the tournament was that if you were knocked out in any round, your team moves on without you.

The first round consisted of a small group of shadow Heartless. They were dispatched almost instantly between our attacks. Rounds two through six were also pretty easy, with each consisting of soldiers, shadows, large bodies, and/or luna bandits. I noticed that the red gem had begun to fill with a bloodlike liquid, which increased its volume every time one of my arrows struck a foe. The seventh round, however, posed a greater challenge.

"So, it's you again. I had hoped I wouldn't have to end you." Auron stated as we entered the arena on round seven.

"Good luck to you, Auron. You're going to need it." Mike said. He and Xion rushed forward with their blades, while I launched my rose-thorn arrows at our foe. He ducked, slid, and jumped, dodging all but one of our attacks, which was Xion hitting his leg. Auron angrily spun, and hit Xion across her face with the flat of his blade.

"Xion, no!" I shouted as she flew past me. Her Keyblade disappeared as her body hit the wall, limp as a ragdoll. She was teleported out of the arena, as the cyan monster's voice rang out, "Challenger disqualified."

I launched arrow after arrow, about one every three seconds. Each one of them hit their mark, and Mike took advantage of the stunning effect they produced to slash Auron into a sixty-five hit machete combo. Auron could not take much more, and one last arrow hit his head in-between his eyes, causing him to be teleported out.

Round eight had a small collection of deserters, soldier-like heartless that were small and green. And extremely weak. The Semifinal round had only one enemy, but what an enemy it is. It stood on its hind legs, but was hunched over so much you could think it was on all fours. Its limbs were black in color, as was its hair. The main body of the creature was crimson, and the Heartless insignia was where its face should have been. Instead of hands, it had long, segmented yellow blades.

"Ahh! Zack, what is that thing? It's hideous!" Mike said.

"You've been with me for how many chapters now, and **now **you're surprised?"

"Zack, it's got evil knife hands. EVIL KNIFE HANDS! OF EVIL!" The Creature lunged, and Mike barely had time to notice it before he was jumped on. The creature sliced my friend with a whirling spin attack, and Mike was teleported out not long after. I was on the offensive, and split my bow in two. The twin swords clashed with the monster's, and sparks flew as we parried and dodged each other's blows.

The monster swung fast, and knocked me onto my back. As it hovered over me, I forced the Keyblades up and into its body. The Heartless staggered, and evaporated in black smoke. On the ground fell a small blue gem, not unlike the red one in my pocket. I put it next to the now red-and-full gem, ready for use again.

The final round pitted me against Sora, since his companions were also knocked out in earlier rounds. I didn't bother with my bow at all; just its dual sword form. Sora tried a vertical slash, but I rolled to the side and tried to uppercut his flank. Sora blocked, and retaliated faster than I could block, cutting my arm in a shallow wound. Retaliating, my Keyblades struck his midsection, sending the boy flying to the arena wall. Now was the time I put my blades together and launched three arrows at Sora, knocking him out and winning the round.

"Well done, well done." A voice said behind me. I turned, and recognized Hades, the God of the Dead. "Now, you can leave with your prize, a small fortune of munny, or participate in one final round as double-or-nothing."

"What's the final round?"

"Me."

"I accept your challenge, Hades."

"I hoped you would." Hades glowed red, and the edges of the arena erupted in flame. I immediately swapped my bow's charm for the electric one; you shouldn't fight fire with wood. The battle erupted between Hades and I.

I was tossed aside like a ball of paper. I should have guessed from Hades being a god and all. "Don't feel bad, Zack. At least you still got the trophy." Chris said. I held the Hades cup, a purplish trophy with the Underdrome (the arena's name, apparently,) detailed into it. _At least you made it that far, Zack. _Xion wrote, trying to cheer me up.

Sora and the rest of us found nothing of the Organization, so we said farewell to the world, and teleported onto the Gummi ship. I examined the trophy closer, and saw a small Olympian arrowhead in it. My bow turned into what looked like two scimitars fused at their hilts, and it shot what looked like spears.

Who knows what other wacky worlds are out there? I wondered as I looked around the ship. Chris and Donald were deep into a game of chess. Sora and Mike were sparring while Goofy flew the ship. Ana was practicing some gymnastic attacks in the corner, and Xion…

Xion was sound asleep, with her head on my shoulder.

(A/N: just want to give a heads-up to people out there- I'm looking for a cover artist, for this story and my Pokémon one. I'm holding a little contest here- if you send me [decent] cover art using the e-mail on my homepage, I'll consider it against others to use as the art for this story. I'm not trying to con anyone, I'm just bad at drawing so I need help. Please submit by the end of the month, or early September the latest. Also, if anyone got the Knife-hands reference, good for you for getting such an awesome game. Nanoman, out.)


	15. Chapter 15

Ch XV  
Lost

Sora surprised us with a trip to Hollow Bastion. "You'll see, Zack. You're gonna love it!" He said when I asked why we were here. Chris, Mike, Xion, and I followed him to a certain home in the middle of the Borough. Donald and Goofy were visiting the former's uncle, who had the aura of a snobby billionaire. Ana decided to visit the market, to pick out new clothes or something. We entered the home, to find a man with blonde hair in his forties looking at schematics for a gummi ship. "Hey, Cid!" Sora yelled loudly at him, startling the man.

"Hey, Sora, watch your volume! You could've made me mess up the schematics!" Cid said. The gummi ship in question was small and purple-themed, and looked very simplistic. "You'd be Zack, right?" He said as he turned to face me.

"Yeah… Sora said he had a surprise for the four of us." I responded while gesturing towards myself and my friends.

"Look up on the screen. I had a few gummi blocks lyin' around, and Sora here persuaded me to make this ship for you. All you gotta do is name it."

Surprised, I said to Sora, "You got me a ship? You didn't have to do anything like that… I thought you brought us here for ice cream or something."

"Nah, my ship's a little crowded with the eight of us all in it. Having two would free up a lot of space, and we can investigate worlds twice as fast!"

"Your own spaceship? Man, you're either very lucky… or you're overcompensating… heh." Mike said in the background. The rest of us ignored his comment.

"I name it, huh? Let's see… what about… The Falcon?" Everybody seemed to like the idea, and Cid passed a small purple key fob into my hand. He explained that it lets us board the ship. I thanked both Sora and Cid, and pressed the big button on the fob. My ship's bridge was virtually identical to Sora's, just replace the red with purple and the blue with white. Off to the side was a kitchen, as well as a bathroom and sleeping bunks, all of them small and having only the bare essentials.

"I'll fly it." Chris said.

"What? It's my ship, Chris."

"I'm older than you, and I've actually taken piloting lessons back on Earth. I'd know how to fly it more than you or any J-"

"Please, Chris, just stop." I let him take control, partly because I didn't want to crash the thing. We received a comm channel from the ship next to us in space, a big red and yellow one.

_"Hello? Zack, Chris, Mike, can you hear me? It's Sora. I'm in my ship, right next to you. Goofy, Donald, and Ana are with me."_

"We read you loud and clear, Sora. Where are we headed?" I saw several hundred worlds in front of us, all different shapes and sizes. They were literally endless.

_"Port Royal, the world directly in front of us. Here, I'll mark it." _A small red arrow appeared on the ship's windshield, pointing to the place in question.

"Let Chris get used to the controls, then we'll meet you there." Chris flipped a few switches, commenting on how similar it was to the Cessna he flew back home. "Can you fly it?"

"Maybe… let me see here…" He pressed a shiny red button, and the ship rolled over completely to the right. The motion stopped, and the only one not on his or her behind was Chris, who was strapped to the chair he sat in.

"I don't want him to fly this thing…" Mike said. Xion nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry you guys, I got it now." Chris started to smoothly sail the ship towards our destination. "Unfortunately, our ship doesn't have a warp drive installed, as Cid told me on our radio just now."

"How come we didn't hear it?" I asked.

"It's on the radio in this headset I found" He said as he tapped a black set of headphones that were on his head. "No warp drive means we're not getting there as fast as Sora."

"No worries. It'll give you more time to learn how to fly this thing." Xion and I started to play Spit, an amusing card game, with the deck I bought several years ago. I always had it on me; a good luck charm, if you will. Chris continued to fly the ship, letting the computer do most of the work. Mike pulled out his DS Lite and started to play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Half an hour turned into an hour. That turned into two. It was my ship, but damn it was slow. I'll have to ask Cid for an upgrade.

"Hey, did you guys hear something?" Mike said, pausing his game.

"No, I did-" I was cut off by a voice that came out of the ship.

"SPAAAAAAAAACE!" It sounded robotic, and excited. I looked out the window, and saw a small white sphere headed straight towards us, the source of the sound.

"Uhh… what in the world is that?" I said, pointing to it. Chris was asleep, so I tried to shake him awake so he could avoid it. I had no idea how to fly this thing!

"SPACE!" The thing said as it struck us, ripping a hole in my brand-new ship. The vacuum of the outside world sucked me out of my ship, flying through space towards a remote world below. I was falling, faster and faster towards the planet's surface. Looking up, I saw the hull was patched, having grown more gummi material to fix itself.

I crashed into a small lake on the surface, the water breaking my fall somehow. It still hurt like crazy. I climbed out of the lake, and shook the water out of my clothes. Looking around, I saw a giant of everything, from trees to rocks. The grass blades alone were several stories taller than me. To my left, I saw a large battery-like object, with a red creature with white spots not much further off, soundly asleep in the day.

I caught my breath. Falling onto my arms and legs, I started to choke. My lungs filled with fire.

I couldn't breathe on this world!

(A/N: about time I got my own ship. I really liked the falcon series in KH2, so that's what I got. "SPACE!" is from Portal 2, and you can have a cookie if you guess what world I'm on now. One hint- it's not a world in any KH game to date, and probably never will be. Virus problems fixed, but give me a week to get back on track. Thank you, ~Nano)


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter XVI  
The Distant Planet, Part 1

I woke up in the middle of the night. I could tell it was such through the spaceship I was flying in over the surface of the world, through a helmet I wore. I sat up, my head sticking out of the badly damaged hull. "Hello there, young one! Finally awake, I see." Said a voice above me. In the captain's seat sat a man in his early thirties, wearing a helmet similar to mine.

"Ugh… where am I? The last thing I remember was choking to death…"

"And you would have, unless I got that life-support system on you. This planet has a high level of a poisonous form of oxygen. Normally, we'd breathe that, but the toxins prevent us from doing so. I need to fix my ship before the life support runs out."

"How long until that?"

"Factoring the expenses of keeping you alive… probably fourteen days. And I'm missing twenty-eight of my ship parts that fell off. I only have the main engine and the eternal fuel dynamo recovered."

I was a little confused at this point, but I'll entertain him for a while more. "Anyway, you should get back to sleep. Still have a few hours before daybreak, and you'd better use them." By the time I closed my eyes I had passed out.

I woke up just as the captain was setting the ship down on the surface, in what looked like a forest. "So we have to look for your ship parts captain… sorry, what was your name?"

"Olimar. And you?"

"I'm Zack, a Keyblade warrior. I free worlds from darkness and help those in need."

"A warrior, eh? Then you could be of more help than I thought. You see, my little helpers, the Pikmin, are not that great at combat, and neither am I."

"I'll be glad to help you. After all, if you don't get off this world, I don't." Olimar walked over to some sort of giant red… onion, and called up into it. About fifty little red people jumped out, and started to follow the captain. "Those are the Pikmin?"

"Yes, although they seem to act more like children than mature specimens. Perhaps they see me as a parenting figure?" He pulled out two small black boxes, and offered one to me. "These are deep-space radios. We'll use them a walkie-talkies for now, since this planet isn't charted on their service between worlds. If we get separated, use that."

The days slowly ticked down from there. We recovered many of Olimar's parts, but we were still missing some. We also found two more of those "Onions," revealing yellow and blue pikmin. That's when he journeyed to a place he called "The Distant Spring." According to Olimar's radar, all but one of the remaining parts were here, and we only had four days until life support ran out.

"Captain, how about we split up? We don't have enough time to gather the parts as one group. I'll take some pikmin, and we'll see if we can track down the parts to the south of the landing site." Olimar agreed, and soon I had fifteen little helpers of each variety follow me down the landscape. The spring was very wet, and the ground was squishier than one would think. I spied a large bolt up ahead on a cliff, too high for me to reach. The pikmin looked up at me, expecting something. I threw all of my red friends up there, and they managed to muscle the bolt down. "Are you guys okay?" I asked them. They replied with something that sounded like "Uh-huh."

_"Scanning…" _the radio said to me. It had doubled as an identifier for Olimar's parts. _"Repair-type bolt found. This is a vital part necessary for final reconstruction." _I had the reds move it back to the ship, and wait there. I called Olimar up on the radio.

"Hey, Olimar. I found your repair bolt, or whatever. My reds are bringing it back now."

"That's great, Zack. Oh, and be careful- my pikmin seemed scared about an egg south of here. Could you check it out? It seems… unnatural, at least for our standards."

"Sure thing. Also… I think I see… did you have a massage machine?" I saw a large circle of padded material, and that was the first thing that popped into my head.

"Yes, although I probably don't need that to lift off. Ha! Bring it back anyway, might as well since the pikmin are scared of that egg, and probably won't go near it."

"Rodger." I ordered the rest of my crew to pick up the circle, and haul it back. Meanwhile, I approached the water, and walked in, wading my way to a sandy circle of sandbars. In the middle was a large egg, mostly white with pink swirls at the bottom. "Let's see what you are…" I said as I tapped the egg with my hand. I would soon regret that idea.

The egg cracked, causing me to jump in shock. I instinctively summoned my bow, and held it ready. Another crack appeared on the egg's surface. Another. It broke open, sending bits of shell outward at lightning speed. One of them hit me square in the chest, knocking me underwater. Luckily I had the helmet on, so I wouldn't have to worry about air. A large… thing, appeared. It was a blackish-green color, with no apparent legs and small, t-rex like arms. Two glowing red eyes were on its head, and it slowly made its way to the landing site. If that thing attacked the ship… oh no!

I shoved the shell over to the side, and launched three arrows at the thing. The two that hit its tail and back seemed to do nothing, while the creature roared in agony at the one imbedded in its skull. "No shit, Sherlock… the head is it's weak point. Heh, I'm just wondering what the others would say about this."

The creature reached the onions, and started to uproot the small seeds that were there, obviously Olimar's work. The captain himself was throwing our little friends at the thing's head, the pikmin latching on and getting sucked in. their little souls flew skyward from the thing's body. I launched more arrows at the beast, and it eventually fell to the side.

"What was that?" Olimar asked as I walked up to him.

"Whatever it was, it was in the egg. No wonder the pikmin were scared. But what's this?" I said while picking up a small, golden sphere. The pikmin badly wanted it, and so I gave it to the color with the least amount of members; the reds, since they were the ones fighting. The three little guys hustled it off to the onion, and many, many seeds flew out- at least a hundred. Olimar spent the next two days picking them out of the ground while I fetched the last few parts from the area.

"Alright, Zack. We have one more day before life support fails. If we don't get this part, we can still leave, but I'll be bankrupt. It's my safe, you see."

"No problem, Olimar. We'll get it. Just make sure you keep track of the time, or we'll die."

I slept soundly that night, dreaming of tomorrow, when I re-unite with my friends.

(Cut to the Gummi ship- I have no knowledge of what happens here.)

"Chris, are you sure he fell on this world?"

"Positive, my war-faring friend. It must be this one, since it's the only one here!"

_"If you didn't sleep for so long, it would not have taken thirteen days to fly here."_

"Oh shut u- I mean, 'still thy hand,' Xion. I know what I'm doing."

"Riiiiight. I'm going to go hit the hay. We'll find Zack tomorrow."

(A/N: sorry for the delay in updating. School started, so it'll be a while before I get into a routine and find time to make these chapters. So bear with me, and I promise things will be back on-track by October. It's still not too late if you were drawing a cover, just keep in mind my e-mail has changed. If you sent it to the old one, please re-send it to the new one, found on my profile page. ~Nano)


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter XVII  
The Distant Planet, Part Two

"I name this place… The Final Trial!" Olimar shouted as we touched down on the earth, this being our final day of life on the planet.

"We can leave if we fail to get this part, right?"

"Well, yes. But you see, it's my safe that's missing… my life savings are in it! I at least have to try to get it, Zack!" I looked ahead of us; the terrain was rocky, and perilous (to all but the blues) pools of water dotted the landscape. It would be hard for the pikmin to carry anything back through that.

"Alright. You and the pikmin clear a path through here, no doubt a beast is guarding your part. I'll take care of it, and hopefully our jobs finish as soon as possible."

"Agreed, Zack. The Whimsical Radar says the part's in a large clearing north of here. Be careful."

"Don't worry, I always am." I hopped over small piles of rocks, and treaded through water to get to an imposing black bramble gate, which I climbed up and over. Unlike Olimar, I was nimble enough to do so. I landed in a large, sandy circle, with a small green lump in the center. "That must be the safe; it must have been covered by the natural plant life." I say to myself. I walked up to it, but it rose out of the ground, rearing up on two thick, hind legs.

The whole creature resembled the grub-dogs I've seen in other places, particularly The Distant Spring. However, this one was much larger, and fatter. It had two evil red eyes, and its enormous tongue was purple. I summoned my bow on instinct. The thing lumbered over to me, and lunged. I barely had enough time to dodge to the side before I was flattened.

The creature, who I'm calling the king of Grub-dogs, made what should have been a roar in my direction, but came out more as a garbled growl. I took the opportunity to launch three electrically-charged arrows into its gullet. The king staggered, and lunged again. The pattern repeated as such, and I grew used to dodge, attack, dodge, and repeat.

Then the king grub-dog managed to get me with its tongue; I had no idea it was that elastic. I was stuck to it, a slimy and sticky substance forming a coating. A pikmin landed next to me, and started to bash at the tongue. And another. I freed one of my hands, and stabbed it with my separated bow several times before it thrashed around. The little guys were thrown off, but I was stuck, and pulled into the monster's gullet. The last I heard of the outside world was Olimar shouting, "Zack, no!"

The king was invincible on the outside, due to its armor-like skin. But in here, I had all the weak points I could think of. As best I could, I twirled around, swords in hands. I cut through the insides of the monster like a knife through warm butter. The king fell dead as I cut the main part of its heart out (hey, it's me or him; I don't care how gruesome it sounds) and he vaporized like some of the other monsters in the world. The only things left behind were a bunch of pikmin pellets and a large piggy bank.

"Zack, are you alright?" Olimar said to me.

I stood up, coughing. "Ugh… I'm choking on blood that isn't mine… that's just nasty."

"You did it! My safe is, well, safe!" Olimar immediately had the pikmin carry the part and the pellets back to the ship and the onions, respectively. As I followed Olimar back, I noticed a glint in the sand. Investigating, I found a small pink gem, or what looked like a shard of one.

"Might make a good souvenir." I said to myself as I pocketed the gem. Back at the ship, which Olimar told me was The Dolphin, the pikmin loaded the safe into the cargo bay of the craft. "So, what now?"

"We leave. It breaks my heart to leave the pikmin here, but I doubt they can survive in a different world. Now, are you ready?"

"Almost," I said as I pulled out my Ipod. I still had it on me from when I left Earth. I motioned for three pikmin, one of each color, to sit on my shoulders and head. The red and yellow were on my shoulders, while the blue was on my skull. I took a picture using the inside camera; another souvenir. "Now I'm good to go."

The ride from the atmosphere into space was relatively smooth, given the job we did to repairing the ship. "Hey, Olimar, I think that's my ship over there," I said while pointing to a purple spacecraft that was, indeed, The Falcon.

"Here, contact it with my Interstellar Radio." I took the controls, and sent a message out to my ship.

"Hello? Guys, it's me."

_"Zack, is that you? Man, Mike and I have been worried! What happened? Where are you?"_

"You see the ship in front of you, Chris? That's the one I'm on. Just let us board."

_"Gotcha. Sending out the tether cable now…"_

A few minutes later, Olimar and I were in the Falcon, recounting our story to my friends. "Must have been fun, pounding in the faces of those monsters."

"I was actually scared, Mike. You would be two if you knew you had fourteen days to live if you couldn't fix a spaceship."

"I'm afraid I must take my leave, gentlemen. Here, Zack," Olimar handed me a business card as he talked, "Hocotate Shipping Company. Look us up if you're in the neighborhood."

"Sure thing, Olimar." I said as he boarded his ship, and blasted off. "So, guys, where to?"

"Sora said he was going to Agrabah or Halloween Town next, and we're going to the other. He's letting us pick." Chris said.

_"Which one do you want to go to?" _Xion wrote.

"Hmm… Let me think…" I paced around the room a couple of times. "I pick…"

(A/N: So, yeah. I'm actually debating in my head which one to go to. I can't decide, so I'm leaving it up to a poll, which you can find on my profile page. Happy voting!)


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18  
Halloween Town

"We'll head to Halloween Town, Sora. You head to Agrabah."

_"Copy that, Zack. Have fun in the land of frights!" _The comm. Channel suddenly closed before I could ask what he meant. I nodded to Chris, who got the ship going towards the new coordinates. I really need to get a better engine; it took us five days to get there. It's a good thing Cid decided to put food in here too.

"So, this is the scariest place in the universe? Seems a bit… festive to me." Mike commented when he, Xion, and I touched the ground. Chris decided to stay on the ship, since it would be easier for him to beam us up from anywhere instead of us having to run to a green warp circle. I looked around, and noticed the same thing. The homes and buildings (which, as I look at them, were supposed to be pointed and gray) were decorated for Christmas.

"Yeah. Looks like they got their holidays mixed up. Anyway, let's look for a trace of the Organization." Xion agreed, and that's when I got my first look at each other. We… changed, in appearance. Xion looked like a vampire, with pale skin, fangs, blood, and Victorian clothing (I sighed in relief when I realized it wasn't the bad kind of vampire). Mike looked patched together, and when I looked at the metal bolts on his neck, realized he was like Frankenstein. I looked down at my hands, and saw nothing but bones in their place. I was a skeleton, but, according to Mike, I still could make expressions. I found out who he was comparing me to when I turned back around.

"Why, hello there, travelers! Welcome to Halloween Town!" A skeleton said. He was wearing a black suit, open a little on his chest. His face could contort into various expressions, much unlike a real skull. "I'm Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King! What brings you here?"

"We're here to look for traces of Organization XIII. People who wear black jackets with hoods and silver chains. See anybody like that?"

"Hmm… nope, can't say I have. But anyway, you simply must help me with my task right now. Tell you what; you help me, and I'll help you. Deal?"

"Depends on what you want us to do."

"Oh, it's tragic!" He said, while over-exaggerating his emotions. One second he was cheerful, the next he was gloomy. "My friend, dear old Sandy Claws, has been working hard every year for his holiday. I simply want to take the burden off of him this year, and do his job for him. Can you help?"

"Well, I guess we-" Mike pulled me back, and into a huddle with Xion.

"Dude, can't you ask us our opinion before you agree with something?" He said.

_"Yeah, I second that." _Xion wrote.

"Alright, fine. I just though, since you didn't say anything when I made a decision before…"

"That was because we had no other choice, Zack. We'd either be imprisoned or dead if we didn't listen to your decisions."

"And isn't that enough reason to trust me now?" Silence, for once, was heard from Mike. "Thought so." I turned to Jack, who was staring at us with interest. "We'll help you. Lead the way, Jack."

Changing emotions drastically again, he jumped in the air, and grabbed Xion's and my arms. He ran, without any regard for leaving Mike behind. We soon exited the town, and were headed towards the forest. I hope Mike can find us…

{}{}{}

_Mike's point of view_

Goddamn it, they left me behind. I knew we shouldn't have trusted that skeleton guy, especially since he seemed to be the "king" around here. I followed his tracks for as long as I could, my machete drawn and ready. I lost them in a small cemetery, with a path leading to an open gate. I heard a noise behind me, and turned to see what it was.

Of all things, it was a floating sheet with a dog's head and a glowing pumpkin for a nose. It barked once. "What are you doing here?" It barked again, and hovered near a doghouse-shaped tombstone. Upon further inspection, I found faint writing on it.

"'Here lies Zero, faithful companion and friend.' That's your name? Zero?" The ghost-dog barked happily, and led me towards the open gate. It seemed to want me to follow it. Walking into the small, fenced-in area, I found a single hill, which was rather curled at the tip. "Why did you want me to come here?"

Zero was nowhere to be found, and the gate shut closed. A semi-transparent barrier erupted at it, and several dark clouds formed around me. Soldiers, as well as a new kind of heartless that looked like mummies appeared.

"Damn heartless. Well, I guess I could blow off some steam!"

{}{}{}

_My point of view_

Jack had thrown Xion and I down a mysterious, tree-shaped hole… that was in a tree. Go figure. We ended up landing in snow, the last thing I'd expect from this place. I looked up, and Xion wrote what I was thinking. _What the hell is going on, Zack?_

"I don't know, Xion. But this place looks better decorated for Christmas than the other one. Looking up, I saw a bunch of round, red buildings, covered in multicolored lights and white stripes.

"Isn't it grand? Behold the splendor of Christmas Town!" Jack said behind us. "Let's go, I'd like you to meet Mr. Sandy Claws!" I wondered who he was actually talking about, given the setting. Jack led us down to the courtyard, when I saw the general clear barrier signaling the arrival of heartless. However, these were slightly different. Their bodies were thinner, lither. Silver in color, they had a different insignia above their zippered mouths.

Xion's pad was thrown at me while she ran at the creatures, Keyblade in hand. _Nobodies! They're stronger than Heartless, be careful! _She started to bash them aside, probably with experience. Jack lit his hands up with ghostly fire, and hit the Nobodies hard with blue flames. I launched my wooden arrows at them, using the arrowhead from Beast's Castle. I also noticed a new one in my pocket, red with the design of an Onion on it; probably from my adventure with the Pikmin. I'll see what it does later.

The Nobodies were relentless, even hours after the fight started. New breeds joined in, including ones that could shape-shift, as well as ones that could melt into the floor like shadow Heartless. However, those could attack from their invulnerable state. We were being overrun. Jack fell down, unable to fight any longer. I grabbed him, and dragged his unconscious form behind some crates. I turned my bow into its blade form, and joined Xion in the heart of the swarm.

Minutes passed, half an hour. An hour went by, and we still could see no end. An explosion occurred near a large, green door that said "storage." Gunfire flew out of the resulting hole, and a female figure jumped out. Kind of tall, near my height, with long, blond hair and a gun in her hands and one on her back, I hoped she was on our side. It turned out she was, since she shot the Nobodies that knocked Xion out cold. "Take that, monsters!" She shouted. I recognized her voice.

"Kaitlin?"

(A/N: just in time for Halloween, comes the two- part story of my time in the land of frights! MUHAHAHAHAHA- *cough, hack* aww, I gotta work on that. One of my friends asked to make an appearance in my story, and so here she is. I hope you liked your intro! ~Nano)


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter XIV  
The thing of nightmares

"Who else did you think, Zack?" Kaitlin said as I roused Xion from unconsciousness. Jack Skellington walked out from the corner I put him in, slightly dazed but otherwise okay. The Nobodies were thoroughly extinguished.

"It's just surprising to see you here, that's all. I thought nobody else got off Earth before it was swallowed up." I answered.

"Who else is with us?"

"Chris and Mike. You know them, the warmonger and-"

"And the psycho. Right. Who's she?" Kaitlin asked, pointing to Xion.

"I'll tell you inside. It's warmer in there anyway." The four of us walked in, and after a very exciting meeting with Santa Claus discussed what happened to each other over hot chocolate. Apparently, Kaitlin first came to this world, and was "enlisted" by Santa to protect his factories, which she gladly accepted. In return, Santa gave her the guns she uses to do just that; his factory isn't just for making toys.

I recounted my details, showing her pictures I've taken with my IPod. Xion joined in at times, writing down details that I had trouble remembering. "So, if Xion was part of this Organization, why can't she tell you where it is?" Kaitlin asked.

"She doesn't remember that much. Only bits and pieces of her life before I found her."

"So, If Mike is here, but Chris is on the ship, just where exactly is our little warmonger?"  
(Perspective Change- Mike)

Ah, crap. The Heartless are actually overpowering me. I don't think I'll be able to take all of them on, no matter how much I'd like to. I pressed my hand to my communicator I had with Chris. "Get down here, I need help, man!" I said as I parried a Heartless's slash attack and chopped its head off.

"I can't go down there; you know how bad I am at fighting. But I am transmitting your coordinates to a friend." When I was about to ask who, four beams of light appeared on the field. The first one revealed himself as Goofy, who ran into the Heartless with his shield. Donald called upon great lightning strikes to combat them. Ana gracefully jumped onto the back of an enemy, twirling her ribbon around its neck and snapping it, while tossing out some gymnastic rings to ensnare others. Sora summoned his Keyblade and threw it, shish-kebob-ing three before calling it back to his hand.

"Can't tell you guys how great it is to see you. You came just in time."

"What? Heroes always arrive late!" Sora said. A slight cough was heard from Ana as she landed next to us after a back flip. "Heroes and Heroines, better?"

"Much." Ana replied. The fighting resumed.  
(Back to me)

"Wherever he is, I'm sure carnage will follow. Now, what's wrong here?" I asked Santa, since I saw a worried look on his face.

"Well, there's this… thing, in my factory. I don't know what it is, but it moves around and destroys all the presents! You just have to help!"

I replied, "Santa, last year I asked you for a replica of a well-known sword from a video game. You gave it to me. I owe you." The sword was still in my room, if my room still existed. "Where's the factory in question?"

"It's actually the one right through here," He said while gesturing towards a door. "Please be careful."

"I will. Kaitlin, Xion, come with me, I'll need help. Jack-"

"Hey, why can't I come in with you?"

"A, you'll probably cause more harm than good, no offense. And B, I want you to go and find Mike, the guy you left behind. I like him; I don't want him dying on me." Jack sprinted out of the building, screaming that he will find him. The three of us, two Keyblades and a gun in our hands, walked into the factory.

"How do we go about this?" Kaitlin asked.

"_There's three conveyor belts. Three of us. I say we each take one and search it." _Xion wrote. I took the center, while Kaitlin took the left and Xion the right. Right when we stepped on the belts, however, chain-link fences popped up on both sides, and deadly-looking spikes popped up behind us. The belts started to move, towards the spikes, of course.

"Oh, ho ho! Who do we have here?" An obnoxious-sounding voice said. A glass box descended from the ceiling, containing what looked like a large cloth bag with folds for arms, legs, and a face. "My name is Oogie Boogie, nightmare incarnate. What's yours? Oh, yeah… Swiss cheese! Ha ha ha!" The belts started to move a little faster, with boxes moving past us into the spikes behind us. I think I'll start with you, mister bowman! I'll crush you to bits!"

A large… boxing glove fell out of the box, and smashed into the conveyor right in front of me. I tucked and rolled, dodging the glove when it came down again. The box moved to Xion's lane, and she swung her Keyblade like a golf club to launch a box at the thing. She missed our foe, but I saw the glass underneath him crack slightly when it hit. "Xion, keep doing that!" I shouted. She launched two more at him before the box switched to Kaitlin's lane.

"I got this, you guys." She said, starting to shoot the underside of the box, cracking it more. Meanwhile, I ran as fast as I could, aiming for the opening at the end of my lane. Jumping in, I was jostled and turned around until I popped out in the lane gunfire was coming from. "Zack, good thing you came over here. I'm almost out of ammo." I could see various empty clips near her, all headed towards impending doom by the conveyor spikes.

"I have an idea. Can you throw one of these boxes?"

"They're not heavy at all." She said, hefting up on with one hand. I guess it was empty. She threw it at the box, but I knew it wasn't high enough to get in it. Banishing my Keyblade, I jumped onto a box on the conveyor, and used the one in mid-air to vault myself next to Oogie Boogie.

"Whoa, why are you tryin' to crash my party, bow-man?" he said.

"I'm the exterminator. And you're the bug." I said. I had thrust my hand into his chest, not tearing his fabric at all.

"Was that supposed to hurt? 'Cuz it didn't, you little-" He was cut off as I summoned my bow, impaling his sides, both at the same time. I ripped it out of him, causing a large wave of insects to tumble out of him, falling onto the conveyor below and into the spikes. I used the conveyor controls to lower the fences, and Kaitlin and Xion both jumped off. I followed suit, landing in a pile of stuffed animals.

"That was awesome." I said as I pulled myself out. However, one of the presents in the room started to glow, and hover. My bow was in my hand without me summoning it. Next thing I knew, there was a flash of light, and I was in a strange realm, with a large keyhole in the sky. My bow aimed itself at it, and on impulse, I launched an arrow into it. A loud, audible click was heard, seemingly locking it.

A few hours passed before Jack came back with everyone. We celebrated our victory, and Sora told me that I had locked the world's keyhole, meaning no more Heartless could enter. As an early Christmas present, Santa had his elves install a faster engine in my ship, and make it quicker and its weapons more powerful. I thanked him, as Kaitlin joined Mike, Xion, Ana and I in the beam-up to my ship.

"_Zack, there's one last place we haven't checked. Remember Twilight Town?" _Sora said over the Comm. line.

"You mean the place we first met? There?"

"_Yeah, there. We should check that place next, it's the only one left."_

"Race you!" I said as both ships took off at warp speed, headed towards a relatively small world, one I remember well. I also remember that I owe a guy named Hayner a punch in the face.

(A/N: how's that for a comeback off of hurricane Sandy? Sorry I couldn't post this last week, too many things happened. Happy belated Halloween. Expect crazy randomness to occur in Twilight town, especially involving ice cream. ~Nano)


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20  
Mystery Girl #2

"Where exactly could the gate to the Organization's home world be?" Mike asked as we were walking down a large hill near the center of town. We were headed for Tram Common, the main district, to ask around for information. Mike was travelling with me, as well as Kaitlin, Ana, and Donald. Sora led the group consisting of Goofy, Chris, and Xion.

"I'm not sure, Mike. Let's just ask around like usual, alright?" I answered. We spent several hours asking the residents about the Organization, their home, or if they saw any of their members clad in their black hoods. Nothing; nobody seemed to have heard anything about them.

We met back up at a snack shop, Donald buying some ice cream for everyone. It was blue in color, and was salty… but kind of sweet as well. The clerk told us it was the town's specialty, Sea-Salt. I liked it, and bought myself another. "Any luck, any of you?" Kaitlin asked, sounding exhausted.

"Nope." Came the reply from the three other people. We sat in silence, finishing up our ice cream. I was on the last bite, savoring it, when I saw a familiar figure run near the far wall. It was the chunkier one of the group that antagonized me on my first visit. I believe his name was Pence.

"Hey, get back here!" I shouted. I wanted to talk to that guy, find out where his companion was. Hayner was the one I wanted to punch. I bolted towards him, abandoning my friends. He saw me, and I must have looked angry, because he took off screaming towards this giant crack in the wall of the town.

"DON'T KILL ME! PLEASE!" He screamed, entering the forest behind the crack. I followed, rushing past trees until I saw this mansion randomly appear through some trees. I mean, what sane individual- wait, scratch that. Who in this quest have I yet to meet that is perfectly sane? Not even me; I know what I am.

I cornered him near the large gate that guarded the mansion. "I'm not going to kill you, Pence." I said. _Hayner's the one who's gonna get his face punched in for punching in mine last time. _I added on that second part in my head. However, curiosity got the better of me. "What is this place?" I asked.

Pence seemed to calm down a little after I mentioned no killing. "It's an abandoned mansion that, well, is just here. Nobody knows who lives there. There is, however, a mystery surrounding it…"

"What mystery?"

"They say, at about five in the afternoon every day, you can see a girl in the second story window. Creepy, right?"

"Yeah… hold on…" I pulled my IPod out of my pocket, and quickly brought up the lock screen, to check the time. It was 5:02. I glanced up at the second-story window, and did see a girl; she had a plain white dress on and blond hair that hung past her shoulders.

"Well, I'm going to head back… I'll see you later, I guess…" Pence said. He walked off, back towards the town. I, however, turned towards the gate. What did Sora say about the Keyblade…?

(Flashback)

_The Keyblade is a really cool weapon, Zack! It's indestructible, it can harm heartless, and it can open any lock!_

(/flashback)

My bow had appeared in my hand before I actually thought about it. A Keyblade seems to work more on instinct than thought. I aimed an arrow at the gate's oversized lock, and launched it. The gate unlocked with a loud click, and I walked forward into the front door.

I was greeted with a ruined entryway, with overturned furniture and broken glass scattered around. Everything was coated with a fine layer of dust, sending up little clouds as I stepped around. I walked up the left staircase, to get to the western window-room I saw the girl in. The door was old and coated with filth.

"This is crazy. I was just seeing things; there's no way I saw that girl. The door does not look like it's been used in ages." Either way, I grabbed the knob with a hand, and opened it slowly. I was, genuinely, surprised at what I saw. I had stepped into a white room, clean and free of dirt and grime. The walls, floor, everything was the same pearl-white color, giving the furniture a slight iridescence. The walls had several pictures, drawings on them, with familiar figures. I saw the same girl sitting at the far side of a table, drawing in a sketchbook. Collecting myself, I said, "Who… are you?"

She seemed startled, and dropped her pencil in surprise. "I'm Naminé. Who are you?"

I decided to sit down, at the other side of the table. "My name's Zack. Mind if I ask what you're doing? I mean, in here, the mansion."

"I'm drawing."

"But why are you in the mansion? Surely there are much better places to draw than this dusty place."

"I'm bound to the mansion. Organization XIII wanted me for my… talents. And so they prevented me from leaving this room until someone comes to get me." She gestured towards the door. "Since you opened that door, I am obligated by the spell they placed to follow you."

"You don't have to- wait. Did you say the Organization XIII?" This was the first solid lead I had all day, even if it was from an odd girl in a mansion.

"Yes. They wanted me to work for them because I have the power to control and rewrite other people's memories. When I refused, they locked me up."

"Do you know where their home world is?"

"Yes. The entryway is in this world, and yet it is not at the same time. The gateway will only appear in the alternate version of Twilight Town." Rather quietly, she added on, "Roxas's version…"

Ignoring the last sentence, "Can you take me there?"

"Yes. Follow me, then…" She got up, and walked towards the door. When she stopped before it, she said, "I can only leave with you. You have to exit the room first." I walked out, and Naminé grabbed my arm, walking with me on my way out. She led me across the mansion, to a large room that had the floor lowered into some sort of techno-lab. We walked down a few dark hallways, until she stopped near a computer with multiple screens.

"This will take me to the other version of the world?"

"It will take us, yes. Remember, my spell. I can't go anywhere I want; it has to be with the one who opened the door."

"How do we fix that? Not that I don't mind your company, of course."

"The spell ends when the one who placed it on me is dead. It was… the organization's Number eight… I think his name was Saïx." She inputted a number of key commands on the computer, and a light flashed nearby. She grabbed my arm, and we walked into it.

(A/N: And so, Naminé appears! I thought up of the whole "imprisoned" thing as a reason she worked for the organization, since she didn't seem willing to throughout KH: CoM and KHII. Will I find the home world of the organization? Will my friends be able to find me? And will I get to punch Hayner in his bratty little face? Find out next time! ~Nano.)


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter XXI  
Betwixt and Between

Naminé and I stepped out into an almost identical computer room. The only difference as far as I could tell was that the computer in this room was smashed. "This is the alternate version of Twilight Town that was created by the man known as Díz. As you can see, there are some differences." Naminé said.

"Who did this?"

"A boy not much younger than you. His name was… Roxas, I believe."

That's the second time that name had come up; Xion had mentioned him a while back, at Beast's Castle. Naminé led me into a room just farther on, a large rectangular room with a glowing sphere of energy in a corner. As soon as the door shut behind us, a semi-transparent barrier encased the room, sealing us in, and the exits and the sphere out. Several Nobodies appeared, and from what Xion had shown me, I could identify four dusks, two assassins, and a berserker.

"Naminé, get behind me!" I shouted, summoning my bow. The arrows I fired were charged with ice, from the new bow I received at Halloween Town. The curves were made of black bramble, the arrows pure ice. They traveled slower than my other ammo, but they froze whatever they touched. Three dusks were reduced to puffs of smoke in as many arrows; I've gotten the hang of this thing.

Naminé had crouched low behind me, not wanting to get involved in combat. She probably had no fighting experience. I separated my bow into twin blades to ward off an assassin's strike, parrying it and sending the creature reeling. I lunged, and stabbed its head with both blades, killing it.

The other assassin had noticed the death of its comrade, and moved in close. Before I could take care of it, though, the damn thing exploded on me. Naminé screamed, and as I fell from the force of the explosion, the one dusk I didn't kill was about to get her.

"Shit." Was all I could say as I hit the ground. I launched a random arrow out at the dusk, and it somehow hit. Apparently these arrows had a limited homing ability, as I saw it curve in mid-flight to hit its target. "You okay, Naminé?"

"Yes, but- LOOK OUT!" I turned, and the berserker finally decided to act, about to slam its hammer into my face. I rolled, and sliced my bow through its midsection. Enraged, the Nobody threw its hammer at me, and I barely jumped aside to avoid it. A thought struck me as I banished my Keyblade.

I grabbed the hilt of the large hammer, and swung it over my head at the Nobody who was walking over to get it. If there's one thing I've learned from video games, the best way to kill something is to use its own weapon. The berserker vaporized, as well as the hammer in my hands. A small part of me missed the large weapon immediately. Naminé thanked me for helping her, and she led me to the sphere of light.

(Meanwhile, with the other heroes, *thwack!* And heroines, Ana, sorry.)

"I can't believe it. He disappears into space once, but now in a mansion? I just don't believe it." Mike said, when the group approached the mansion in the woods. Sora gestured to the large lock on the ground.

"Only a Keyblade could've opened that, Mike." Mike grumbled incomprehensively nearby. Through the door, the group was greeted with musky smells and clouds of dust.

_"It looks like this place has been abandoned for many years." _Xion scribbled hastily. Sora and Donald nodded, a little spooked by the broken furniture and the general "Haunted" feel.

"Hey, look what we have here," Kaitlin said. "Footprints. And we know that only Zack could have made them. Let's follow them." The group, much acting like a certain gang of mystery-solvers, minus one dog, cautiously crept up the west stairs, until they reached the top.

"Look over here," Ana whispered. "_Two _sets of footprints. And one of them is in heels. Looks like Zack found a girl here, and went this way." A crash was heard farther off. "Let's go!"

The group of… ah… hold on a sec… *narrator of this segment steps into the background* Xion, Mike, Sora, Kaitlin, Ana, Donald, Goofy… yeah, them. *Steps back forward.* So, the group of seven ran towards the sound, and down the stairs in the library. At the computer lab, they noticed a small beam of light in a corner.

"Whadda' ya think this thing is, guys?" Goofy said, reaching out to touch it. As soon as he did, though, he vanished.

(Narrator: Back with Zack and Naminé,

Zack: You're a horrible narrator. I'm glad I'm doing my parts.

Narrator: Shut up, I'm doing a job.

Zack: And I'm doing mine. Acting for the story that pays your salary. Now shut up and let me do my job.

Narrator:…)

The place Naminé had taken me through the orb of light was… odd, to say the least. The half I was on was blue in color, and the other half shown red. We walked, and when we stepped on the purple-ey section in the middle, several hundred dusks appeared around us.

My bow was already in my hands and shooting arrows before I could speak. Nobodies dropped by the second. However, it seemed like a hydra; for every one I kill, two appear to take its place. I wasn't out of options, though. I grabbed the red gem I had used against Xaldin, and let the Nobodies have a taste of full-auto crossbow fire for about three minutes. Even after my red-clothed form faded, there were more than I could handle normally. That's when I remembered my second jewel.

I fished out the blue sphere. "Here goes nothing," I said, slamming it onto the ground. Blue smoke enveloped me, and I felt a surge of power flow, similar to the red gem's strength. I found myself in blue clothes this time, with a black flame design on my shirt and shorts. My bow disappeared, and two small spheres took its place, hovering near my head in a bluish light. When I was about to wonder what they did, the left one fired a laser at a dusk, vaporizing it and ten behind it.

"I could get used to this," I said cockily, running- no, check that. _Hovering _above the ground. I was lightning fast, shooting lasers at everything. I grabbed Naminé, and flew towards the red end of the world, cutting a path through foes like a hot knife through butter. My form faded as we entered the portal on the opposite end.

The two of us popped out in a sort of city alley, with only one way to go. Naminé led on, moving us through the alley into a smaller one. An odd blue-and-black creature walked in from the opposite direction, and shadow and neoshadow heartless spawned. The creature helped me in killing them, even after I shouted for Naminé to get back.

The last of the heartless went down; it was less hectic than the place in between worlds. The small figure walked up to me, and I was kind of surprised when I understood it. I would learn later that a crew member of a gummi ship has a connection to the ship's universal translator. "My name's Rex. Have you seen a trainer with green hair by the name of Zack?"

I responded several seconds later. "I don't know what you mean by "trainer" or "green hair," since I'm the only Zack I know."

(A/N: So, besides the firing of a new narrator, and a Pokémon spontaneously appearing, this chapter went smoothly. Sorry for not updating last week, things got a bit too hectic for me. Also, update day has been moved to Saturday. Why? Because I enjoy my Friday nights. The new cover art is courtesy of Aquagirl1024, who appears in this story as Kaitlin. It's much better than "Image Pending," am I right?)


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter XXII  
Sniper Duel

Rex, who I recognized from one of my favorite games (_Pokémon Platinum Version)_ to be a riolu, was a great help in fighting the heartless hordes. His… aura spheres, right? Yeah, they cut through the heartless almost as fast as I could. Naminé directed me towards a small alley, which opened up to a cliff out over a bottomless pit of doom…*cue dramatic music.* Hovering over said pit was a white castle, in stark contrast to the grey-blue buildings of the city.

"We need to get there, Zack. That's the organization's hideout. The Castle That Never Was." Naminé spoke.

"Why add on 'That Never Was?'" I asked.

"Because Organization XIII is made up exclusively of Nobodies, which, as you should know, shouldn't exist." Rex was looking out over the cliff, and then turned to face me.

"I don't want to ask, but how exactly are we getting over to that place?" He asked. We had introduced each other, and after this whole adventure, I'll ask him about how he got here. A Pokémon shouldn't exist here, right?

"Naminé, I agree with Rex. How are we going to get there?" I said.

"What, you can't transform your Keyblade to get us over there?" she responded immediately.

"Transform my… Keyblade?" I had no clue as to what she's saying.

"You… do know how to do that, right?" I stared at her blankly, Rex following my lead. "I'll have to open a portal, then. Before you ask, I can't open portals as easily as other Nobodies. It'll tire me a little." She raised her palm, and a black portal appeared, not unlike the one I saw Xigbar appear from.

"That will take us inside?" I said. Naminé nodded. Rex was skeptical, but shrugged and followed her after she stepped through. I was the last through, and found myself on a set of pearl-white stairs. Naminé faltered, and sat down against the railing.

"I'm fine… I just need to sit for a bit."

"Alright. I'll look up ahead. Rex, stay with her." The little riolu nodded, and sat down next to Naminé. I walked up the stairs, and found myself in a large, rectangular room. There was only one other exit, but before I could reach it, one of the semi-transparent barriers I knew so well by now appeared. Instead of Heartless or Nobodies, however, a hooded figure appeared. Throwing back his hood, the man revealed himself to have a yellow eye, the other having an eye patch over it. His black hair was cropped close to his head, and he had a nasty-looking scar over his face.

"Well, well! Who do we have here? I was told a Key-brat was coming up here, but I expected it to be Roxas. Oh, well," he threw his hands back, summoning what looked like a pair of oversized purple crossbows with a gun's handle attached. "Like them? They're my arrow-guns. You got anything that can compare, kid?"

"You're gonna wish you hadn't issued that challenge, friend." I said that last word in a venomous tone. I summoned my twin swords, since that was the last form they were in, and fused them together with a flourish to form my bow. "This is my Key bow, not blade. I think it more than compares to your puny guns."

"I like your attitude, kid," he said, laughing. "I'm Xigbar. If we didn't have a strict 'no intruders' rule, I'd definitely want to reconvene at a coffee shop or something. But, alas, I have to end you." He teleported, and I saw an arrow of light fly past my face. Turning, I saw that he had taken up a sniping position up on a ledge.

I fired arrows at him, but in the time it took for them to get to him, he dodged. "It'll take more than that to hit me, kid!"

"The name's Zack!" I shouted. I spun my bow in a circle, and deflected his next arrow back at him. He hit it back, and it turned into a game of Dead Man's Volley. "And I'm not a kid!" I screamed, hitting the arrow so hard that it flew back close to the speed of light and hit Xigbar.

"Clever little sneak!" He said, and teleported. I heard my name shouted nearby. Turning, I saw the rest of my friends gathered by the barrier I came in by. They couldn't help me, however.

"Zack! There you are!" Ana shouted, everybody else doing the same.

"Guys! How'd you find me?"

Mike answered for the others. "Goofy fell in some sort of portal, and then this odd girl came to point us in the right direction. I think she said her name is Naminé."

"Where is she now?" I said. Didn't I leave her just outside?

"We don't know, she disappeared." Kaitlin said.

I felt a searing pain hit my back, and I fell on my knee. "Hop you didn't forget about me, kid." Xigbar said. There was a flash of light, and the arena had shrunk into a long rectangle. Xigbar was at the far end, and started to shoot at me endlessly.

"I've had about enough of your attitude!" I shouted, throwing my Valor Gem at the ground. My clothes turned their familiar shade of red, and the crossbow was firing as soon as it had materialized. "Take this!"

That exchange lasted a full minute, until the form faded out and my bow was back in my hand. Another flash of light, and the arena was a small square, about ten feet on each side. Xigbar hovered above it. "I have to congratulate you on managing to hit me a few times. But playtime's over, kid; let's see how well you can dance!"

He created two wormholes on either side of him, and stuck his arms in them. Arrows flurried out of subspace holes all around me, and I could do nothing but jump and dodge. Several of them hit me, and by the time the arena was back to normal, I was bleeding out of several new puncture wounds.

"Heal!" I heard Sora shout. A bunch of flowery vines encircled me, and my bleeding slowed and stopped. Wounds healed up, and I felt stronger. "I can heal you from afar, Zack, so go all out!"

"Thanks, Sora!" I shouted, launching more arrows out at Xigbar. I watched his teleportation pattern, and jumped out, twin swords in hand, where I expected him to appear next. Bingo, that did it. I hit him once, stunning him. More slashes from me followed, and the ice properties of my bow actually started to freeze him. Sora kept healing me, so I knew I would win.

Xigbar landed on the ground, kneeling. I aimed and launched one last arrow at him, and I swear I could have heard Mike scream "Boom, headshot!" when I did just that. Xigbar disappeared in a blast of smoke, and the barriers fell.

Everyone surrounded me, and we rejoiced in our reunion. Before we left, following the corridor out, I picked up a small, purple gem that had remained after Xigbar had disappeared.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter XXIII  
The room of XIII

"Where did Naminé go?" I asked Mike. He shook his head, not sure. I wondered where that girl went. Nevertheless, we headed on, all nine of us, deeper into the castle. Along the way, Nobodies attacked us, in new forms with new ways to kill us.

The sorcerers were hard to take care of, with their glowing cubes of death and all. The best way to deal with them was to let Sora, Donald, or Kaitlin kill them off from range with magic or bullets. Dragoons seemed daunting at first, but Ana could just jump up and tie their wings up with her ribbon, leaving them on the ground and exposed to anyone else who was nearby. Honestly, they seemed like jokes.

We eventually reached a room unlike the others. It had these little plaques on the ground, describing things like "The Moonlit Berserker" or "The Key to Destiny." Xion bumped my arm with her pad.

_"These are the personal rooms of Organization XIII. If you deserted the organization, like me, or were killed your door is destroyed." _She wrote. She additionally tied on, _"Each door is linked to our life force. If it is blue, we are alive. If it is pink, that member is dead."_

At that time, we heard a scream from behind us, back where we came from. "Sora, you take Donald and Goofy and see what that was." I said, and they ran off. "Kaitlin, you take Ana and Xion, and go into that room, the Gambler one. Mike, Rex and I will deal with this Berserker. If all goes well, I'll meet you back here soon."

Mike followed me as I entered the room, Rex sitting on my shoulder. _"The member in here is Saïx. Be careful," _Xion wrote before she left for the other door. The door we came through shut closed, and it looked like we were trapped until we beat the Organization member. We saw him easily, his blue hair shocking against the grayish walls. He turned around.

"I know you, Zack. Only you and Roxas could have made it this far in one piece." His voice was chilling, and he held a giant claymore in his right hand. (for you shooter fans out there who misinterpret, a claymore was a sword long before it was an explosive device.)

"Is that a challenge?" Mike asked, "You didn't even say how I fit into this!"

He held his claymore into the air, and spun it to the side, making the spikes on the end grow larger and more menacing. "Different person, same fate." He said as a harsh wind blew past us, sending Rex flying. He flew past the entrance to the area, where a barrier appeared over the entrance. Mike and I were on our own.

"Can you feel it? The moon's power!" He cried as he levitated in the air. His body glowed blue, as he seemed to gain energy from somewhere. The heart shaped moon outside, perhaps. "Moon, shine down!" He screamed in rage, and swung out with his weapon, creating blue flames launched at us.

"Ready, Mike?" I said, holding my hands out for him to get ready. He put one foot on my hands.

"Yeah, let's kick this guy's ass!" I launched him in the air and summoned my bow, placing the arrowhead I got from Beast's Castle in there, my bow becoming a twisted branch and launching earth-based projectiles. Mike landed on Saïx's back, and dug the spikes of his machete in his back. I grabbed the claymore copy he threw, and batted him away with it. He lost his blue aura, and seemed calmer.

"That all you got? I expected more!" I shouted.

"No. I was testing your skills. Now, I want you to die fighting!" He threw his weapon at me, and Mike jumped in front, blocking straight on. I decided to turn the tide in our favor by using one of my gems. I pulled out the one Xigbar dropped, and smashed the purple gem on the ground.

My clothes turned a deep violet color, and black crosshairs was the design of choice. In each of my hands I held one of Xigbar's arrowguns, and I immediately pulled the trigger on both of them. The arrows of light shot out, homing in on Saïx, and struck home. I flung the weapons back to reload, and Mike slashed away at Saïx's midsection.

"Enough!" He shouted, glowing blue again. He dashed forward, spreading out shockwaves across the ground. They were violent, destroying parts of the room itself. "MOVE ASIDE!" Saïx shouted, launching his claymore at, and practically impaling, me and sticking me to the wall. Mike slashed with his weapon, but Saïx blocked and the flimsy steel shattered. My form faded, as a bonus.

"You son of a bitch!" Mike shouted, grabbing the claymore that kept me stuck to the wall and wielding it as his own weapon. I launched arrows at the blue haired berserker, but he and Mike's actions were too fast to match with my arrows. I separated my bow, running forward.

"Mike!" I shouted. "Alley-oop!" He understood, and struck Saïx multiple times, ending with launching him at me. I hooked one of my blades around him, and the other sliced across his chest. Saïx fell into a heap, and the barrier fell.

"You… are strong…" Saïx said. "But… are you strong… enough?" He said, before he disappeared into black smoke.

"You think he'll mind if I take this?" Mike asked, holding aloft the claymore. "He broke my machete, so I'll take this." I shrugged, not minding. We headed back into the previous room, only to find that the girls weren't back yet. The door, however, was unlocked.

"Mike, do you have the suspicion that something terribly wrong happened?" I said, gesturing towards the door.

"Yeah. I think they might need our help." Mike said, jumping through the door. Rex followed, eager to help.

"Hold on." I said as I followed suit.

(A/N: one more week, one more chapter. No post last week, due to the aftershocks of the holidays taking up all my time. Sorry for that, but it was necessary. See you all next week, ~Nano.)


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter XIV  
Darkness Incarnate

The three of us entered the door to Luxord's room. "A little more open than the other room, right?" Rex said. Mike nodded.

"I'm going to look over here." He said, moving to the right side of the room. I went over to the left, Rex sitting on my shoulder. "What's this thing… a giant card?" I looked over to Mike, who was holding, well, exactly what he said. A Nobody symbol was etched into the side facing me. I walked over to him.

"What could be so special about a…" I then saw the other side. Three figures were in the picture, one each of Xion, Kaitlin, and Ana. "Whoa, what the hell is this?"

"I don't know, but Luxord seems to have had some time on his hands." Rex said.

"Indeed I have, children." Another voice said. My bow and Mike's new claymore were in our hands, ready to fight. "Now, now, we'll have none of that." I heard a snap, probably from fingers, and Mike was gone. Rex was off of my shoulder, too. I glanced down at the card on the floor, and their pictures were on the card as well, placed next to the existing ones.

The organization member himself then appeared. "Any last words before your fate is the same as thiers?" I stuttered for a moment.

"Wait." I said. I remembered what Xion told me a few days earlier…

(Flashback: Three days ago)

"Hey, Xion, you were in the Organization, right?" She nodded. "Does that mean you know of any way to beat them easily?"

She started to write. _"All of us are invincible if we fight together. However, pride, the one thing a Nobody probably retains, overrides that. We like to fight individually, to make sure we can beat anyone."_

"So, if I'm fighting one alone, there is a certain weakness I can take advantage of?"

_"Yes. For example, many of our number are element-based. Just use the one that element is weak to in nature. For others, well, I know some things like that too. Like, one of our members has a distinct gambling addiction…"_

(Present time)

"How about a little bet, Luxord?"

This seemed to get his attention. "A game, you say?"

"Yeah. We play cards. I win, you let me and my friends go. You win, and I'll go into the card, no complaints." He thought for a little bit. "Aww, c'mon, you're the organization member with power over luck, right? Why are you afraid? Scared you'll lose?"

"I never lose a good, honest game of cards. You have a deal, Keyblade wielder."

"The name's Zack."

He summoned a small white table, with two chairs. In the center was a small deck of cards, emblazoned with the Nobody symbol for a backing. I sat in one chair, Luxord in the other. A Sorcerer Nobody appeared, obviously to be our dealer.

"What's the game, Luxord? I challenged you, so tradition dictates you get to choose the game."

"Ah, a man of intellect as well as accuracy, I see. A good, old-fashioned game of poker, I suppose. _All or nothing._" Two cards were dealt to me, the Ace of diamonds and the two of clubs. Five cards were placed on the table: the king of spades, the ace of spades, the ace of clubs, the two of hearts, and the ten of spades. "What do you have there, my boy?"

"Three of a kind, high king." I said, revealing.

"Royal." He said, revealing a Queen and Jack of spades. "Flush."

"Hmm… then I guess the winner is decided."

"Yes, boy, now, you just be a good guy, and just-" I cut him off by hooking my left fist into his face, knocking him out of his chair. I summoned my bow, and flung an arrow into his chest. He got up, surprised.

"You said if you lost, you'd go into the card!"

"I said I'd go, without complaining, which I'm not. I didn't say I'd go quietly." I flung the valor gem at the ground, ready to soak in the power of the red little gem. But, I don't know why, I lost consciousness after that.

(Xion's point of view, until further notice)

I woke up. Simple as that. One minute, we were fighting Luxord, the next, nothing. Kaitlin, Ana, they were next to me, but Rex and Mike were as well. We all looked at each other, puzzled. That's when we heard the sound. Growling, a sickening growl that made your hair stand on end. I turned, and made a silent gasp.

A heartless, a disfigured neoshadow, was standing over the now-dissipating form of Luxord. Mike and Ana charged at it, brandishing a claymore and ribbon respectively, but they were knocked aside by the monster's claws. It sprung forward, attacking Rex, who tried to block it with a sphere of light but didn't have enough time to charge it up.

"Come here, you monster!" Kaitlin shouted. She started to fire her gun at it, but the automatic fire bounced off its armor-like hide. I summoned my Keyblade, and launched fire magic towards it. That seemed to work; a blizzard spell froze it long enough for Kaitlin and I to grab the others and run.

In the room of the organization, Sora was there again, with Donald, Goofy, and two new characters. One was a girl, with long, red/brown hair and a pink mini-dress, while the other was a boy with long, silver hair and a white vest.

"Did you beat Luxord?" Sora asked.

"There were some… complications." Kaitlin said. She explained the situation while I poured potions onto the wounded.

"So, where is this odd heartless?" Riku, the boy said. The girl introduced herself to be Kiari. The heartless in question, however, jumped out of the gate to Luxord's room, and landed on me, pinning me to the ground. That's when I had the largest look of surprise on my face. It bounded off, down the hallway we were going to exit from.

"Xion, what's wrong?" Goofy asked.

"What is that thing, anyway?" Kiari added on.

I wrote one, four-letter word onto my pad to show them.

_"Zack."_

(A/N: How'd you like dem apples!? Anti form, hell yeah! Oh, and a little more mindless. And powerful. And a need to hear the screams of his enemies… I'll admit, I've been waiting to sneak this in sometime. See you next week, ~Nano)


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter XV  
Return From Darkness

(This chapter is told from Xion's point of view until said otherwise)

We pressed on, without Zack. It was hard, but there was little we could do for him; his body had given in to darkness, and nothing could change it. The path was long, winding, and filled with Nobodies. I helped the others slash through them, but part of me felt remorse for doing so. I am one of them, after all.

"Hey, so when do we get to meet this Xemnas guy?" Mike asked. I wrote in response:

_"His quarters were back there, but he spends most of his time at the top of the main tower."_

"Good. I want to bash his skull in. It's his fault that Chris, Zack, myself, and everyone here is actually fighting." He was right. I couldn't argue with him, either. I also blamed him for everything, even if he once gave me a home.

We stopped to rest in a large chamber that seemed devoid of enemies. We ate a meager lunch of bread and water, since that's all Mike had in his bag. Kiari led the way forward afterwards, a floral Keyblade in hand. I, however, heard an odd hiss behind me as we exited the chamber. I turned, trying to pinpoint it.

"Everything alright, Xion?" Sora asked, standing next to me. Rex was on alert, however, his eyes closed, trying to sense something. I shook my head, but started to walk forwards. A barrier of black flames erupted between the three of us and the others, hotter than any fire I've seen before. "What's going on?"

That's when we heard the voice. _"Mussst… Consume… All…" _the voice spoke. It came out in a garbled hiss, and I'd compare it to nails on a chalkboard, underwater. Rex assumed a fighting stance, and Sora and I summoned our weapons. His giant key flashed silver next to my blade, Two Become One.

The dark form from earlier fell from the ceiling, turning its bright gaze on us. "Zack…" Sora whispered, lowering his weapon a little. However, Zack lunged forward, his now razor-sharp fingers digging into Sora's chest. Rex launched a ball of blue light at him, sending him flying across the room.

_"Fighting is ussselesss… You will be consssumed…" _He said. Sora launched a firaga spell, only to see it bounce off the dark hide of our friend. Rex jumped forward, punching Zack's face with an aura-covered punch. He didn't even flinch, grabbing Rex by his legs and flinging him into me. We fell backwards, stunned.

"Xion, don't be afraid to attack!" Sora shouted. "Whatever that thing is, it's no longer Zack!" He's right. I mustn't let that distract me; it's either me or it, and that creature is a Heartless. I got up, and rushed it, but the creature's claws parried each of my blows. Sora, however, managed to slide around to its back and hit that with several large Keyblade swipes, stunning it long enough for Rex to land in a few blows.

The creature bellowed, and a large wave of energy knocked us back. A pipe form the ceiling fell, and landed on Sora, knocking him out. I fell behind some rubble, unable to move. Rex was on his own. A small ribbon fell from the ceiling, however. It was small and yellow, and Rex jumped for it. He managed to swipe it from above Zack, landing behind the Heartless. But that's when the strangest thing happened; the room was filled with a bright, white light. It lasted several seconds.

Where Rex was now stood a taller creature, with a yellow chest, two more dreadlocks, and one spike each on his hands and chest. He launched another ball of light, and this seemed to do more damage than before. The Heartless dodged it, however, but couldn't dodge the rapid series of punches and kicks Rex used next. The ball of light hit the rubble in front of me, clearing enough so I could get out.

I helped Rex pummel the creature down into the ground, attacking it over and over to prevent it from harming us. I finally stopped, the creature being motionless. Rex stopped as well, and walked over to help Sora. My Keyblade, however, aimed itself at the creature. I wondered what it was doing, when it shot a beam of light at it.

(Zack's point of view)

Darkness. That's what I could see. I didn't know what my body was doing without me controlling it, but I knew it was fighting something. A beam of light, however, illuminated the area. The darkness receded, but I still couldn't control my body. I looked around, but I couldn't see anything but my own shadow. Wait… it was moving. My shadow stretched and pulled, and separated from my being. It disappeared soon after, only after I heard "Finally… I'm free!"

I came to, in control. Xion hovered over me, Keyblade pointing at me. "Whoa… what did I miss?" She dropped the Keyblade and hugged me, tears rolling down her face. "Hey, Xion, what happened?"

She filled me in as Rex (who evolved, apparently) and I dragged Sora to the rest of the group. She wrote about me turning into a heartless, and attacking them. I promised it wouldn't happen again, but I wasn't so sure.

We camped out at the bottom of a large spiral staircase. I could sense our journey's end soon, and the large, heart-shaped moon only confirmed it.

(A/N: short chappie, I know. I'm just moving things along for the final fight, since I'm excited to finally get one of my stories done. The sequel to this one is already in production, so expect even updates from now 'till about March, unless my router explodes.)


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter XVI  
Jews in Space

(Author's note: If you find the chapter's title offensive, than please ignore this chapter. It's your fault for being so insensitive. I lay no right to racism, or whatever you call it against a religion, because I mean almost everything Chris says to be a joke, and… that's how the real-life Chris looks at it. Enjoy.)

"So, that's what happened to me," I said. Sora had explained the situation to me, about my whole "Anti-form" trance. "Did I hurt any of you? It's all a blur."

"Don't worry, we're all fine." Sora replied. Mike and Kaitlin agreed, while Xion wrote down "Yeah, we are" on her pad.

"Where to next?" I asked.

"Up there, that's where Xemnas is." Riku said. He was pointing at the top of the nearby tall tower. Of f*cking course it would be up there; when will the lair of an evil organization's leader ever be in a grassy meadow, or even a building in a city? Why does it always have to be the tallest tower, or the deepest cave, or a volcano?

"Let's go, then!" I said with fake enthusiasm. We climbed, and climbed… but nothing broke the monotony of this, not even a Nobody ambush. Until my communicator went off in my ear. "Chris, anything wrong?"

_"There's a crap ton of Heartless up here!"_

(Chris's Point of view…)

"Shit, shit, shit!" I screamed, dodging incoming fire. My time behind the helm of the Falcon was put to use as I barrel rolled out of the way of several canon shots. I hit the afterburners, getting enough speed to turn around and ram one of the nearby heartless ships, destroying it. I smashed my hand on the laser control panel, firing beams until the weapons overheated.

_"Chris, is everything alight?"_

"Just peachy, Zack, wish you were here!" I joked. I shot more ships out of the sky, the lasers and missiles streaming out the ship faster than fireworks on the fourth of July. A giant, X-shaped heartless appeared, and its four arms latched onto the Falcon.

"Oh, hell no, you freak!" I said, throwing the ship into a barrel roll again. The heartless was shaken free of the ship, but launched lasers in response. Most hit the ship, causing smoke to come out from the fires newly created.

"Eat this, you son of a Bitch!" I launched the main cannon of the Falcon, used only before when it was tested in Cid's shop. I was pleased to see large explosions come out of the enemy in front of me, and the one behind him, and behind him.

_"Chris, I repeat, is everything alright?"_

"Yeah, just lost a few layers of paint, that's all."

_"Do you need help?"_

"I got this, Zack. Geeze, have a little faith." A tube hit the side of the Falcon. "Hang on; I have a few guests to take care of." I jumped out of the captain's chair after hitting autopilot, and grabbed my sitar off the wall. The spikes on the end were still sharp, and it was the only weapon on board. Several Heartless shadows jumped into the ship, and I easily dispatched them by swinging the sitar.

"Huh, easier than it looks." More boarded, however, and I knew I couldn't hold them back forever. I still swung my hand against the strings, remembering Demyx's technique those many months ago. My own water clones came out of the sitar, and attacked the enemies around me.

"Bad. Ass." I said, still strumming. "What did he say..? Oh yeah- C'mon, Heartless, kick it to the beat!" I said, strumming faster and harder as columns of water both attacked the Heartless and put out the fires. "Yeah, this is great!" I stopped playing long enough to thrust the spikes through a few heartless, then kept hitting them with water attacks.

More arrived, in greater force. In addition to normal shadows, there were also soldiers and Blue Rhapsodies flying about.

"Stupid Heartless, get out!" They clawed their way in, and I prepared to go down, until I remembered the warp circle Zack and Xion use. I dived towards it, but a soldier Heartless kicked me out of the way. I saw fire in the ship, and felt it get caught by the world's gravity as the engines failed.

"Crap!" I shouted, seeing the warp circle break. I was going down with the ship. I closed my eyes and braced for impact.

(Several minutes later.)

I had survived the crash. Bits of gummi block littered the ground, as well as the evaporating forms of Heartless and Nobodies. I wandered around, sitar in hand to get my bearings. I heard a shout from afar.

"Chris!" Mike yelled. I ran towards the sound, crisscrossing through alleys and paths. We met up at a small room near the center of the tower I crashed into.

"How did you survive that?" Zack asked me. I shrugged, and put it up to blind luck. Our entire group moved forward, and Mike asked:

"What kinds of Heartless were up there?"

"just some regular ones. I swear, they were working for the-"

"Chris, if you say what I think you'll say, I hope you can prepare for my new Claymore in your face." However, Chris hadn't the time to reply as a platoon of Heartless appeared, led by a neoshadow that was wearing…

"Is that… a Yamaka?" Mike said. I turned to face the group.

"I. Told. You. I f*cking told you!" I screamed. Zack just shot the Heartless down with his bow, while Sora, Riku, and Ana took care of the others.

"Chris, when this is all over, I'm going to raise your voice an Octave." Mike said. I punched him in the shoulder, and we kept moving on. Zack and Xion brought up the rear, and I could see them in a deep conversation, even though only one of them could talk.

(A/N: Not a bad chapter, even if it is half-assed. I'll be honest with you guys; last week was hectic, and I barely had enough time to do my normal work, let alone write a chapter. The only reason I updated _To See the World _was because I had the chapter written a few weeks ago; the rest of that one's done, actually, and I'm just updating it every update day. Don't worry, _Tales_ fans, I'm working on doing the same thing with this book as you are reading this. ~Nano.)


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter XVII  
Kingdom Hearts

We had reached the top of the tower. It was a long haul, and the Nobodies didn't help at all. They met us at every turn, but five Keyblade wielders, a berserker with a claymore, a mage, a knight, a Pokémon, and a guitar player got us past all of them. The top of the tower was round and circular, and also empty.

"Look, up there!" Sora said. He was pointing to the heart-shaped moon in the sky, where I could make out a figure hovering before it. He had an organization cloak on, so I assumed him to be Xemnas.

"What's he doing?" I asked. He hovered near the moon, his arms out wide. He spoke:

"Hear me, Kingdom Hearts! It seems we must begin anew." He said this to the moon, in a monotone speech. "Ah, but know this: I will give to you as many hearts as it takes. Mark my words! You can no more be complete without me, than I without you. Heed me, Kingdom Hearts! Lend me your power, so that we may be complete!

"The Power to erase the fools that hinder us."

"Xemnas, no!" Kiari shouted.

"Hearts quivering with hatred…" He continued, not paying any attention to us.

"Xemnas! Don't!" Sora shouted.

"Hearts burning with rage…"

"You'll never win!" I called out.

"Hearts scarred by envy… That fool Ansem said that the heart's true nature was beyond his understanding. But it's not beyond mine! Hearts are the source of all power!" A great flash of light engulfed him and the moon, and when it was all done and done, he was gone.

"Xemnas, you can't hide from us!" Sora called out to the empty space.

"We can't let him get away now." Mike said.

"Look at that!" Kiari said, pointing to a giant door that had appeared during Xemnas's exit.

"What's going on?" Chris asked. I decided to let Sora and Co. respond, since I had no flipping idea.

"Kingdom Hearts." Riku said. "Let's go, Xemnas must be inside."

"Then let's go already!" I said.

"Once we go through, there will be no turning back. It's victory… or oblivion. So, Sora, are you ready?" Riku asked the spiky-haired kid.

"Yeah, let's open this." Sora raised up his Keyblade, shooting a beam of light into the door. Riku followed suit, and I decided to join in. Our three Keyblades provided enough power to open the door, letting us in.

"Get ready, Xemnas." Sora said.

I finished for him, "It all ends here!" We ran inside, all of us.

Inside the door, we found ourselves in a different world altogether. Many dark skyscrapers loomed above us, their blue-tinted windows glowing with energy. In the distance, Xemnas was standing on the head of a giant dragon-like Nobody.

"So…" He spoke, "It seems your hearts have led you to obliteration. Perhaps it doesn't pay to be too loyal to one's heart. I will have to be sure and remember that." He pointed his hand at us, causing several of the skyscrapers to fly at us. No, I'm not making this crap up. We jumped back towards the door, but most of the group jumped too far. Only Sora, Riku, Xion, Rex, and I were left in this new world.

"We can take him on our own!" Sora said as the door slammed shut.

"You sure about that?" I asked. Sora only nodded as he jumped through the skyscrapers that blocked us, slicing them into small enough pieces to let us pass. "Show-off." I commented as we ran to the next area.

Xemnas went all out with his attack, launching more skyscrapers at us. We dodged the first few, but Xion had an idea: she used the momentum of one crashing down to climb up to the height where most of them hovered, and ran up there to the dragon Nobody. We followed suit, Rex having the easiest time since he could sense where the buildings would be when he jumped, not where they were to begin with.

We jumped directly to the top of the heartless, to where we saw Xemnas stand. We were greeted by a small arena, with a large throne sitting on one side. Scattered around were weapons, but my Keyblade was enough. Sitting on the throne was Xemnas, who was clad in large battle armor, and held a gigantic sword at least three times my height.

The fight started out with Sora and Rex jumping forward, only to be batted aside by the sword. Riku and Xion jumped in soon after to deliver combo after Keyblade combo in his face, wounding him. I stuck back with my bow, keeping a safe distance to pelt him with my arrows. I chose the electric arrows, since they traveled fast and dealt damage.

"Cur-sed, who?" Xemnas said. At least, that's what I thought he said; it was hard to tell with his armor muffling his voice. Several of the weapons on the wall came to life, and I had barely enough room to dodge a flaming shuriken before Rex and Xion were launched back into me from a claymore's shockwave. I caught Rex with my arm, Xion with the other, and spun. I launched Rex back at Xemnas, and he held out a sphere of glowing blue energy into his face. I lt Xion down, and she nodded her head in thanks.

"Riku!" Sora shouted. The two of them combined their magical energy, and spun into a whirling fortress of blades. Here and there, they fired dark firaga spheres at Xemnas, but stuck to their blade attacks. I launched arrows when I could, snagging his here and there as Xion dragged a wounded Rex to safety.

They ended their large and long attack by smashing the Keyblades together, creating a large explosion that consumed the entire area in a flash of light. When I opened my eyes, we were back on top of the tower, and our enemy leaned over himself in pain.

"I need… more rage… I need more… hearts…" Xemnas said.

"Xemnas." Sora said. "There's more to a heart than just anger or hate. It's full of all kinds of feelings." He paused. "Don't you remember?"

"Unfortunately… I don't." Were Xemnas's final words as he faded into darkness. Mike and Chris ran up to me, and congratulated me on surviving. I saw two portals open up out of nowhere, both leading to different places. One looked like a tropical island, and the other looked like New York City. I knew which one we were headed to.

"What about me?" Rex said.

"You can come with us. It'll be hard to explain, but we'll find a way back to your home." Rex nodded and jumped through he NYC portal with Chris. Mike fell into it casually, trying to be cool. Xion followed suit, aiming to stay with us instead of going to who-knows-where with Sora. On my way to the portal, however, a sparkle caught the corner of my eye.

"What do we have here?" I asked myself as I picked up the shining object. It looked like the pink gem I found on the Distant Planet. To make sure, I brought that one out of my bag. They shone brighter the closer they got, and eventually, they fused together into one object.

"Weird. But cool." I muttered as I placed them back into my bag. I walked towards the portal leading home when it vanished. I looked over, and Sora and Riku were also trapped here. Before I could ask what's going on, a rumble shook the area. In the distance, I saw Xemnas's Dragon Heartless flying towards us.

And I thought I got my happy ending. I summoned my bow, prepared to fight.

(A/N: I plan on making this story thirty chapters long, so welcome to the beginning of the end, my readers! Sorry for the long wait; I needed to get into the game for the dialogue, and my *cough* heartless brother *cough* deleted my KH2 files on my memory card. So I needed to play through the game again to get the speech. All in all, enjoy the next few updates, which can and will happen at any time rather than weekly. I promise a speedy update system, though. ~Nano.)


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter XXVIII  
Dragonfire

The Dragon had hit the tower straight-on, causing it to fall. I was losing my balance, but I summoned my bow and stuck it in the floor, to keep my balance. I caught Sora's hand as he slid past, supporting both of us in the inevitable crash of the building. Riku was out of our reach, however. The crazy Keyblade wielder ran down the tower, with the slope, jumping off at the end. "Riku!" Sora shouted.

However, our silver-haired companion had found something neat; it was a hover bike, complete with a platform on the side. "Hop on!" he shouted, and I banished my Keyblade and landed on the platform, while Sora landed on the seat behind Riku.

"You know how to fly this?" Sora asked Riku. Almost instantly, the bike fell about fifty feet in the air, but Riku regained control.

"More or less," he responded.

I added on, "Riku, if you weren't the only one who could fly this thing, I'd raise your voice an octave."

He ignored my comment, but continued. "This thing has a weapons system, so let's shoot that thing down. Sora, I'll leave the laser controls to you." He pressed a button on the handlebars, and a control panel flipped back to be in Sora's reach. "I'll maneuver and I can project a short-range shield to protect us. Zack, you use your bow and make sure nothing gets close to us. The dragon's bound to have guards."

"But can't you just use the shield to defend if something gets close?"

"No, it will only protect from ranged fire or missiles, not melee attacks or explosions." Riku hit the gas, and I maintained balance as we sped towards the dragon.

Sora shouted, "That looks like a missile launcher, on its tail. Let's take it out!" He aimed his lasers at it, and scored a direct hit. I saw a few Nobodies fly out of the dragon, and took aim with my bow. I switched to the normal bow, my first one. It may be basic and weak, but it had the longest range out of any of my arrows and a decent damage output. I launched my arrows, hitting a Nobody out of the sky for each one. Problem was that there were just so many of them. More than one got close enough to launch a melee attack, which damaged the vessel.

"I said to take them out before they get to the bike!" Riku shouted as he swung his Keyblade to defend against an airborne assassin.

"Wanna switch?" Then, I noticed something, down on the dragon's back. "Riku, look there, between the wings."

"Is that a… hole?"

"Yeah, I think we can get in through that."

Sora responded, "You're crazy, Zack. A crazy, deranged lunatic. I love it."

"We don't know where it leads, though." Riku said, hitting the bike to a hard right to avoid laser fire. "It might be a dead-end, and we'll lose the bike." Riku ducked and swerved, but laser fire got through the shield and hit us straight-on, causing fire to belch out of the bike.

A missile hit us, exploding and damaging the laser system. "At this point, we'll lose the bike anyway!" I said. "Let's go for it, I'll steer us in." I jumped over to the seat, knocking Riku back and aiming the crashing bike towards the hole. "Get ready to jump!"

"This is insane!" Riku shouted.

"NOW!" We jumped off the bike, which veered off. We landed not far from the hole on the dragon's back, and scrambled in after the bike hit the dragon's head and exploded, causing major damage to its skull. Inside, there was a narrow path leading up and down the thing's body, just big enough to crawl through.

"I'll bet you five hundred munny that Xemnas is at the head of this thing." Sora said.

"Seconded." I said, as we started to creep up the tunnel. When I made my way to the head of the dragon, I wondered where Xemnas was; he wasn't sitting in the throne, neither was the Nobody wandering around. "Where is he?"

"Wait, what's that over there?" Riku pointed out a small, white portal hovering to our left. Inside I could see nothing but gray space, swirling around in artful patterns. In the center stood a figure with silver hair, clothed in a white and black robe.

"It's Xemnas!" Sora said. "Let's get him!" He jumped into the portal not a second later. Riku turned to me, shrugged his shoulders, and jumped as well. I followed suit, feeling a mild tingling sensation as I fell through the portal. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was standing next to Sora and Riku, facing Xemnas's back.

He turned around, and spoke in his demonic voice: "Heroes from the realm of light." He spat out the last word, his voice laced with venom. "I will not allow it to end this way- not yet."

_News flash, Xemnas- three on one is not a favorable outcome for you._

"If light and darkness are eternal, then surely we nothings must be the same- Eternal." He spread his arms to his sides, to try to receive some power from the universe. That, or he was just being dramatic.

"You're right, Xemnas. Light and darkness are eternal." Riku said.

"Nothing probably goes on forever, too." Sora added on.

I finished our little speech by saying, "But guess what, Xemnas- that doesn't mean YOU'RE eternal!"

We summoned our Keyblades, and stood ready to fight. Xemnas laughed, his voice chilling my spine. "No more eternal than that radiance of yours."

(A/N: keep your eyes open for the next chapter, my friends! It will be out either today or tomorrow, if I have time. Until next time, ~Nano)


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter XXIX  
Endgame

"You shall go together!" Xemnas shouted, flinging Sora and Riku into the air. I drew an arrow back, but the three figures above were moving so fast I couldn't get a lock on Xemnas. Add in his apparent ability of instant transmission, and I couldn't hit him at all. "Here!" I heard him shout. I turned around, only to get a face full of red laser blasts. They hurt, but I knew that the damage was more internal than external.

Sora landed next to me, Riku not far off. I tossed a potion in the air, letting its effects help the three of us. "Where is he?" Sora asked. Riku paused for a second, then pointed to our left. I saw a small portal appear, and two of our foe appeared.

"One of them must be a clone." I said, launching an arrow at the left Xemnas while Sora charged down the right. As it turned out, my shot was aimed at the right one, but he caught my arrow as Sora faded his double. He chucked the arrow at Sora, damaging my friend.

"I don't think your arrows will work here." Riku said.

"Yeah, I think I got that." I responded as I split my bow in two.

"This is going to be tough… too bad I can't use my forms here." Sora said. It was all he could say before Xemnas grabbed him by his neck, launching him at me. I banished my Keyblade, and caught him, circling around and around, and threw him back. Sora held his Keyblade in front of him, stabbing Xemnas straight and true. Riku followed close, but Xemnas teleported away before he could strike.

(Half an hour later)

I was covered in laser burns. From slashing with them to thrusting to just plain old shooting them, Xemnas knew how to use his weapon of choice. Sora and Riku were not much better off. Xemnas came back at us, holding two lasers outwards, catching Riku and I on our stomachs. Sora was knocked back, landing on the ground.

I dug my twin blades into Xemnas's arm, causing him to let go. I landed near Sora, and came up with an idea. "Hey, Sora, let's charge at him from both sides. Riku can attack his front." He nodded, and Ran towards Xemnas from the right. I circled around to attack his left, and Riku charged his front.

Xemnas was more crafty than us, however, and sent a wave of energy forward, knocking Riku away. He thrust his arms to his sides, catching Sora and I in another energy field. He hovered off the ground, keeping us in the field. I couldn't move, and I felt like my life was fading, slipping from my body…

(Riku's point of view)

I got up, only to see that Xemnas was holding Zack and Sora in some sort of energy field. I knew it couldn't be good, so I charged them. One of Xemnas's clones attacked me, and I sidestepped his laser attacks to get to the main one.

I jumped, and slammed my hand into the one that controlled Sora's energy field. He fell, and I grabbed Sora's Keyblade as I did. I used both blades to deliver a sequence of rapid attacks to Xemnas, hurting him and freeing Zack at the same time.

Both of them were out of it, though, so I had to solo this for now. I jumped and dodged left, around a circle of laser fire. I chucked my blade at him, skewering the arm of his clone, which jumped to defend him. He warped away just when Sora and Zack got up. I handed Sora back his Keyblade.

(My point of view)

"You will drown in darkness!" Xemnas cried above us. He trust his hands to his sides, and the entire world went dark. Red lights appeared all around us, and I formed my bow.

"Lasers! Reflect them back at him, it's our only shot!" Sora shouted. I spun my bow in circles, a trick I made myself and dubbed "Angel Ring," since my bow resembles a halo if I spin it fast enough. The shots bounced off my bow, and Sora and Riku flipped and spun their blades around as well, forming a protective circle around us.

A full minute of this went by, until our reflected lasers destroyed whatever the source of the others was. Xemnas came out of nowhere, using his lasers to stun Sora and occupy Riku. I knew we wouldn't last much longer; the lasers took a lot out of us.

I glanced down at my belt, and saw my three form gems there, brimming with energy. Sora said his forms didn't work here, but mine worked differently. Even so, we would still be outlasted by Xemnas, even if I used all three- wait…

"Xemnas!" I shouted, grabbing his attention. "This is where it ends!" I grabbed all three of my gems, and slammed them to the ground at the same time. Red, blue, and purple mists surrounded me, and I felt a great power envelop me.

My clothes turned green, with miniature bows and arrows imprinted in black on them. I felt my shirt stiffen, and it formed an archer's chest guard on me. My bow disappeared, only to be replaced by a larger, more ornate one. It was larger than I was tall, and the arrows it made were made of pure, green light.

"And what do you call your last-ditch effort, hero?" Xemnas said.

"My Grand Archer form." I said, releasing the arrow. It shot out at lightning speed, creating ripples in the air it passed. It struck Xemnas in his chest, and exploded. He somehow still stood, so I launched more of these arrows at him, each one with the same power-packing potential.

Sora ran up, and grabbed Riku's Keyblade to launch Xemnas into the air. Riku jumped off of Sora, grabbing both swords and hitting him at the same time as an arrow. Xemnas hung in the air, stunned.

"Sora, Riku!" I shouted, both of them landing next to me. I grabbed their Keyblades, and hooked them onto my bow. They placed their arms on my shoulders, supplying more strength for the attack to use. I launched my arrow and their blades at the same time, the triple attack soaring through the air straight for our adversary.

"Cursed… Keyblade…" were Xemnas's last words, before our attack made him explode in darkness. My form faded, and I fell to the ground, exhausted. Apparently, the drawback to using that form was extreme fatigue. As a comparison, imagine you're a 700 pound man who just finished a 5k run.

"We did it!" Sora celebrated. Almost instantly, we were surrounded by almost a hundred Nobodies. No, make that a thousand.

"Not quite yet." Riku said. Great, I could barely stand up, and this happens.

"How are we getting out of this one?" I asked.

(A/N: tomorrow, the exciting conclusion to the story. All you fans and haters alike will enjoy it {hopefully} in my opinion. See you tomorrow ~Nano.)


	30. Final Chapter

Final Chapter

(A/N: So, it has come to this… As the second story I'll be finishing, well, third if you count the one I took down, I'm glad to see this one complete. For now, however; like I said at the beginning, this story will have an end only when I decide to stop writing, which is nowhere in the foreseeable future. Expect my next story to have its first chapter published on Monday. Until then, enjoy. ~Nano)

"We have to get out of here!" Riku said. He chucked an elixir at my face, which I drank to ward off the fatigue of my Grand Archer. I got up, shooting arrows as I did, while Sora was cutting a path through them.

"We killed their boss, so what do you expect? They'll leave us alone?" I said back to Riku. We ran and cut a path through the Nobodies, but I couldn't see anything ahead of us, or behind us. This dimension was just a plane of empty space, no beginning or end in sight.

We ran for hours, but to no avail. For every Nobody we destroyed, two more powerful ones took their place. We were constantly surrounded, and it was only a matter of time before we couldn't cut through them anymore. We were tired, exhausted, and drained from our fights- we wouldn't last much longer.

"Did your gems refill?" Riku shouted out.

"No, not yet. I don't think I'll have a chance to use them, either." I responded. "We'll be-"I was cut off by a large flash of light, one that took over every color. It was so bright, coming from every angle, that I couldn't see myself. When it ended, the nobodies were non-existent.

"What the…" Riku said. Sora copied him exactly, while I looked around for a possible source. All I could find was a white portal, not unlike the ones the Organization used, but, well, white. I approached the portal, only to have a small piece of paper fly out of it, and onto my face. I examined it, to find a note:

_I knew you would get into trouble. I knew it as soon as you found me in the White Room. Even though I have reunited with my past life, I can still use my powers independently to help. After all, you did save me from who knows what. As my thanks, just tell this portal where you need to go. And don't worry- we'll meet again._

_-Naminé_

'We'll meet again?' Well, I hope so. I'd have to ask her where she ran off to. And also I'll ask how she made all the Nobodies disappear. And… well, there's a lot of questions to ask her. But for now…

Now, Xemnas is dead, and I have a shot at going home. I passed the note to Sora and Riku, who read it eagerly. Next thing I knew, we said our farewells, me to them and back. They entered the portal while saying, "Destiny Islands." Must be where they're from.

I walked up to the portal, and said, "Earth." Stepping through, I found myself falling, like before I started this journey…

I fell into the portal, but not where I was expecting to land. I landed on a platform, in the middle of open space. Open, black space. On the platform I saw stained glass pictures of Xion, Mike, Chris, Sora, Riku… everybody who helped me along the way. Ana, Donald, and Goofy as well. Dominating them, the pictures in little circles, was a large, colored version of myself, with my bow summoned in one hand.

"What the…" Then it hit me. "Wait, I've been here before."

_ Yes, child of the key. You have returned. _A voice, from nowhere, said to me.

"Why am I back here? I wanted to go home." I said.

_Below you are your friends, your allies, who have helped you. And next to you, are the powers you chose from when you were first here._ Three pedestals surrounded me. On one, a large, golden sword hovered above it. The second had a shield resting upon the surface, coated in dust. The third had a magic wand hovering slightly above it, just barely.

"Yeah. I remember now." I said.

_You have completed the task fate had in store for you. Now, those powers will be reclaimed by your soul, to rest until they are needed again… _The sword lost its golden gleam, and sunk lower in its hovering. The shield shrugged off its dusty appearance, and hovered once again.

_The Keyblade will still be with you, to protect you. You and the Keyblade are one, and cannot be separated. You will now return to your home, to your place in the universe._

More light. Guess it comes with being a Keyblade knight. When I opened my eyes, I felt wet. Looking around me, I found myself in water, floating just offshore. Looking up, I saw skyscrapers towering above me, as well as the Empire State Building. I wasn't close to home, but I knew where I was. I swam to shore, startling a group of tourists, but I couldn't care.

"Zack! Is that you?" I heard a voice call. I turned, to see Mike calling out to me, Chris nearby. Kaitlin was hailing a taxi, and Xion was running up to me, capturing me in a hug.

"Yeah, guys, I'm here." I said. The taxi driver was not amused by our request to go to Walden, but he changed his mind when I took out a handful of munny. The tetrahedral gems apparently took the form of whatever the currency was in the world you were in, and I was pleased to find a large wad of dollar bills, many of which were 50's or 100's, in my pocket.

The drive was exciting, since I was forced to tell my friends what happened after they left. Sure, I might have made it a little more dramatic, but I didn't leave out anything. _"I'm glad you came here safe."_ Xion wrote.

"Yeah… wait, where's Rex?" I asked.

Mike responded for everyone. "He's following behind us. He's making sure the general public of humans doesn't see him, since he's well, a Pokémon."

"Ahh, okay." The rest of the drive was spent merrily talking about what happened, as if we went to see a movie or something. If only it was that simple. The driver let us out at the main street in Walden, then sped off back towards New York. We went our separate ways, everyone except Xion. She followed me as I walked back to my house. Rex appeared after we left the town, making our way to the outskirts. He nodded to me, and followed as well.

We eventually made it to my house. It seemed like forever ago when I left here, and the world was consumed by the heartless. Now, I walked sternly up the cracked, cement steps, and knocked on the door. My mother answered it.

"I'm home."

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Credits

Special Thanks:  
Mom and Dad- for endless support.  
Brother- for listening to the chapters and helping me in general.  
Mike, Chris, and Kaitlin- for being a character in my story.  
Iriss-Sama- for lending me Ana for use in the story.  
Everyone else- for reading this to the end.

Music:  
theme of Zack- _Knight of the Wind, _by Crush 40  
theme of Xion- _Who Am I?, _Her theme from KH: 358/2 Days  
theme of Mike- _Not Ready to Die, _Avenged Sevenfold  
theme of Chris- _Guildmaster Wigglytuff, _From Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Sky.  
theme of Kaitlin- _Eyes Open, _Ending theme of _The Hunger Games_

Ending theme: _Live Life, _Crush 40


End file.
